Challenge
by JuniperLemon
Summary: Steve Rogers is a genius and needs something to occupy his mind. He turns to hacking and setting challenges for the hero group The Avengers.
1. Chapter 1

The corner of the newspaper fluttered in the breeze from the broken window. Steve stared down at the headline decorating the front page:

 _AVENGERS DEFEATED BY MASTERMIND AGAIN_?

The silence of the abandoned church suffocated him. His fingers played with the thin paper as he chewed his lip. He never expected it to be this way when he started out. It'd been fun in the beginning as the challenge kept him on his toes and he'd had so many new ideas and plans.

But it turns out being an Evil Mastermind wasn't all fun and games. Not that he'd really classify himself as evil. Not really.

The challenge had all but evaporated. The best America had to offer, The Avengers, couldn't get a grasp on him. He'd even been playing an easier game for them the last few months. He sighed and rubbed his face. What's the point in being committing crimes if there wasn't anyone to chase you?

He was tempted to read the article about his latest victory but that seemed too narcissistic. He didn't do all this for his ego. He was just bored and lived for the thrill and rush of adrenaline. He folded up the paper and slipped it into his messenger bag before swiftly leaving the building. Steve pulled the cap lower over his eyes and pushed his glasses higher onto his nose. He didn't really need a disguise but it always felt reassuring. People didn't really recognize a superhero that they thought to be dead.

The back door, which he always used as his access point, was sticky on the hinges so he could jam it shut and nobody would be any wiser. The Mastermind slinked away wondering if it'd even be worth planning something new.

* * *

It was the day after their latest mission but many of the Avengers were still nursing some wounds. Clint had a deep gash across his upper arm that was bandaged tightly whilst Tony had several scratches across his face where glass had penetrated the helmet and shattered inside. Natasha was also sporting her own share of dark bruises. Needless to say, they weren't in the mood for this talk with Fury.

"Again?!" The Eye-patched man growled, "How can this happen again?"

"Maybe we're just not good enough." Dr Banner suggested, shrugging slightly. He held his glasses by one leg and span them around in his hand.

"We just need to get in his mindset." Tony disagreed with Bruce, shaking his head slightly. He squinted as though he was trying to solve an impossible puzzle; it wasn't an unfamiliar look on his face.

Clint and Natasha shared a look but didn't voice anything. She folded her arms and sighed.

Fury dictated the conversation again, "Well, it can't happen again. We have a reputation to uphold. We can't call you the protectors of America if you can't even stop one guy."

The team were quiet. After three previous attacks, it was undoubtable that this masked Mastermind would strike again but this time they had to stop him. The last few times the guy had just stopped for no apparent reason as though he sensed he'd been close to real victory.

Nobody spoke for the rest of the meeting.

* * *

This was it, the big day. Steve took a bite out of his French toast and perused the New York Times. The plan was supposed to take place yesterday but there had been a charity ball to raise money for sick kids and Steve wasn't that evil. He'd decided to postpone it.

So, as a result, today was the big day. At 2pm he was going to unleash his mind control wavelengths across New York with a few exceptions like the Shield/Avengers team and a couple of small areas that held some sentimental attachment. He reviewed the plan in his head and couldn't help but smirk at the absolute genius of it all.

It had taken almost three months but eventually it was ready. He'd used the satellites already orbiting Earth to relay the signal which will be transmitted from his microwave-sized device he'd built. It had been a challenge at first but once the basics were established then it was a simple case of taking the next step.

He wondered if the Avengers, wherever they may be, would be ready for this. Perhaps they'd lowered their guard in the time it took him to plan this next step. He'd followed them the best he was capable but Black Widow, Thor and Clint practically drop off the radar as soon as the missions were wrapped up. Tony was clearly the easiest with his press conferences and public figure status. Watching him had lead Steve to Dr Banner. The physicist who was crashing in his tower and using his science labs. It took some effort and several hours but he'd managed to hack into the security cameras at the tower which gave him a live feed of the inhabitants.

Steve swirled the last of his coffee around the cup before swallowing it down with a gulp. He left the payment and tip on the table as he waved goodbye to the familiar staff and left the small diner. He wanted to get some drawing done before it all kicked off later.

He headed out to where he had a good view of the Brooklyn bridge and pulled out his sketchpad. It was a foggy morning and he loved the way the white fog surrounded the brilliant red of the bridge. He'd been working as an artist for several years but it'd been only in the last couple years that his pieces had begun to gain traction. It wasn't enough to make him rich but enough to rent a small apartment on the outskirts of town with Sam.

He smiled and breathed softly. Moments like this made his life really worth living.

* * *

2 o'clock on the dot, Steve activated the device and it let out a gentle buzz as it began sending the signal up to the satellites high overhead. He smiled, it'd take a while for the wavelength to get projected out which gave Steve the time to make himself scarce.

He climbed down the stairs of the apartment building he'd used and out the front door. He headed towards some old office buildings that he'd checked were empty. He'd set up a TV and Internet there a few weeks ago when his plan began to come into play.

The hurried up the abandoned stairwell and into a small office. He switched on the TV and pulled out his tablet and set it to the news. Almost instantly reports were coming in of thousands of people lashing out at each other in horrendous acts of violence. Theories were being thrown around of viruses, water pollution and even zombie apocalypses. Steve wasn't concerned though; he'd ensured that the mind-controlled people's violence would not spread to murder or ruthless killing.

He sat now and waited for the world renowned Avengers to make an appearance.

* * *

They were completely over their heads. The five of them stood in a group staring at the chaos descending around them. People were swinging bats, throwing punches and being brutal to each other.

"I take it this isn't another one of your Earthly customs?" Thor asked, looking puzzled but curious. The team had been working hard to get him to understand what was normal on Earth.

"Nothing that I've seen before." Bruce reassured his friend with a weak smile.

They watched for a few moments more before Stark, decked out in his full Iron Man suit, said, "Okay, let's go kick some ass." His thrusters sent him shooting up into the air to patrol the skies. He always found a birds eye view to be useful when sussing out the opposition.

"J? Any idea what's going on?" He asked his AI.

"I'm picking up a signal, sir." JARVIS reported, "I should have it pinpointed in the next few minutes."

Tony landed beside a group of people who were battling it out on a rooftop. The pregnant woman swung a pole until it hit her opponent across the head which sent the 6 foot 2 man stumbling back across the floor. Once he was relatively pacified, she turned on Stark and swung for him as though he didn't have a bright red iron suit to protect him. Not wanting to hurt the woman, Iron Man flew away to hover over the city.

A voice spoke over the comms, it was the Norse God.

"I have just discovered that when I hit them extremely hard over the head they'll be restored to normal." The blond God sounded proud of this discovery.

Trust Natasha to rain on his parade, "I don't think it'll be great for our reputation if we're seen beating up civilians."

Tony peered down to the rooftop where the woman had attacked the man and found the guy cowering against the railing as he watched his friends and co-workers battle for their lives. It seemed Thor certainly was onto something.

He reported back to the group over the comms and continued to search for the cause of this sudden outburst. He was flying over the civilians, unable to stop them attacking each other. As more people were getting knocked out, more of them were beginning to run for cover confused by the behaviour of the other people.

He could see Natasha and Barton below, ducking and diving away from the crowds whilst rushing along the streets.

"Sir, the signal originates from satellites but the transmitter is on top of an apartment building on West 38th Street."

"Thanks, J." Tony muttered before zooming off in the direction it was originated from. It was a fair distance but he was already on his way. He told the team over the comms to ensure they were also coming.

Suddenly, Tony noticed a man dressed completely in black with a balaclava that only covered the top half of his face running over the rooftops along a few hundred foot from him. He was leaping the distance between the buildings and jumping any railings that stood in his way. It moved with ease and grace. How was this guy not being effected by the wavelength?

Tony, knowing when someone is acting weird, aimed his blaster at the man and sent his glove toward him. It hit the stranger mid-leap sending him off balance and tumbling down the gap between the buildings.

"Shit." Tony ground out. That was a significant drop that would do some significant damage.

He sped up and shot down the alley between the buildings but there was nobody there. He glanced up to see the man holding on the edge of a fire escape about 65 foot above him. The guy was struggling to hold on but he was desperately trying to pull himself up. The masked man just managed to stand back on the escape when Stark flew into him, sending both of them through the window of an apartment. The glass shattered around them and the panting man groaned as shard of glass fore the flesh across his back.

"Why'd you do that for?" The man exclaimed, rolling up off the floor whilst avoiding the glass shards.

Luckily the apartment was empty or they'd have a lot of explanation for to do. It was slightly dark where the only window in the room let out to the alley way.

"I don't know because I was in the mood for some friendly man wrestling? Of course not! You were looking shady as fuck running exactly in the direction that I'd just been told the transmitter is." His lifted his faceplate while talking to get a real face to face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Steve began to walk back towards the window but Stark struck him in the shoulder, sending him stumbling back.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." He ground out, taking an intimidating step toward the large man. "This has your name all over it. Just like the last two attacks."

"The last three." Steve corrected automatically. "This is the fourth attack that you imbeciles have not managed to quash."

"That's it." Tony growled before leaping at Steve, fully prepared for the man to dart but he didn't. He allowed Tony to pummel straight into him which sent them both crashing on the carpet. He was lying directly on top of the fiend and threw a punch to subdue him. It was after this action that he realised the man wasn't fighting back. He was just lying there. "What's up with you?" He asked, he took a second to appreciate the man's strong jawline that was exposed in the balaclava which stopped just beneath his nose.

Steve shrugged, "I'm not here to fight."

"But yet you cause utter destruction across the city?" To say Tony was confused was an understatement. Villains didn't usually want to go easily once they were caught. Instead they wanted to remain at large where they could continue causing havoc. The man had very plump lips but Tony had to prevent himself from thinking inappropriate thoughts.

The man shrugged again, "I don't do it to ruin the city. That just happens to be a byproduct of setting these challenges and upping the tasks each time."

"What the hell are you talking about 'challenges'?" Tony peered down at Steve.

"For a genius you're very slow." The criminal spoke slowly, almost as though he was scared his words would have some negative consequences for him. "I set challenges for you guys to solve. It's all a bit of fun really... Can you get off me? I'm not sure if you're aware but that suit weighs an actual tonne."

Tony rolled off the man and stood cross armed, watching as the man stood and rested down on a nearby couch.

"Look, I know it's an inconvenience but... Well, I'm sure you understand, as a genius, how hard it is to occupy your mind and I have the same problem. So, I spend my time devising plots for you to solve but so far you've nothing but disappointed... Perhaps I should move to Gotham. I hear there's a higher class of Superhero out there. Get the job done." He muttered the last few lines as though he really was just considering his options.

Stark remained unconvinced, "So that's it? It's not malicious intent or money? It's just you trying to keep your mind busy?"

Steve nodded and pouted a little, "I'm Steve." He held out his hand and waited.

Iron Man eyed his palm suspiciously before stepping forward and giving a curt shake, "Is that your real name?"

Steve nodded and thought for a second, "I'm actually surprised it was you who got me. I'd have put my money on Black Widow. As a super spy and all." He shrugged, "Plus, being able to watch you and Bruce meant I would know if you were planning something."

Tony's face dropped, "You hacked into my security feed?" Shock and the look of being impressed mingled across the lines in the playboys face.

"Yeah," He picked at lint on his pants, "It was a challenge, I'll give you that." The grin Tony received almost made him relax slightly. Steve didn't seem like the typical bad guy they dealt with.

"As it should be. It should be impenetrable since I designed it myself." He smirked, subtly stroking his own ego. "Nobody has managed to get in before."

Steve grinned, sensing a challenge on the horizon,"I'll tell you what." He leant forward to rest his elbows on his knees. A sparkle of mischief glistened in the blue eyes, "You up the anti and I'll see what I can do to get in again."

The older man raised his eyebrows, "How will I know?"

"I'll make it obvious." He bit his lip to try and lessen the extent of his grinning. "Anyways, I have a thing to be dealing with."

"You're going to turn it off?" He asked, mind suddenly thrown back into the game.

Steve nodded and began to walk back over to the window. He stepped out onto the fire escape and turned to face Tony, "That's what I've had to do the last three times."

The man jumped up and caught the next layer of the fire escape and pulled himself up. With a blur of black material he was gone. Seconds later, Tony followed out while closing his mask but there was no sign of his new acquaintance. He set off and tuned back into the comms.

"Tony? Tony?" Clint was asking, panic seeping into his usually calm tone. They'd obviously been trying to get in contact with him for some time now.

"It's okay. I'm here." He then ordered them, "You guys turn back. I have it all under control so it'll back to normal soon." He lied.

"You sure?" Bruce asked, clearly out of breath from running towards the transmitter.

"Yeah, before you know it everything will be-"

There was suddenly silence around them where there had been screaming and shouting from the riot. The silence only lasted a short period of time before crying, screaming and sobbing set in. Everyone clearly awakening from their mind control and witnessing what had taken place.

"Well done, Man of Iron!" Thor roared over the intercom. You could practically hear the smile in his voice.

"Good job. Everyone meet back at base?" Natasha confirmed, not wanting to hang around for the aftermath.

"Just give me a minute, I need to check something." Tony muttered and began flying out to where the device was positioned.

He landed and the roof was empty. There was no sign that anything had every been there nor had that thing taken over the minds of millions of people. Tony glanced around for a while to see if he could catch one last look at this genius who'd manage to even get past him.

He sighed before flying back to base.

What he didn't notice was a blond man in a tee and jeans watching him from the window of an apartment several buildings away.


	2. Chapter 2

"What was it?" Was the first question Tony got asked as soon as his ass cheeks had met with the chair. All the Avengers had their eyes firmly planted on him.

"Just a wavelength transmitter." He waved off casually even though he knew his teammates would definitely want more details, of which he had no real idea.

"Where is it now?" Fury stated, blank and monotone from where he stood leaning against the large table. The playboy had stolen evidence before so he didn't exactly have high hopes that they'd ever see the device again.

Every pair of eyes at the table swivelled over from Fury to Tony, suspicion deep within. He coughed and shifted in his seat. The weight of their gazes was like a tonne of bricks. His mind raced at 100 miles per hour to think of a realistic excuse. He couldn't actually admit that he let Steve get away with the device.

"I had to destroy it to deactivate it... Blasted it to smithereens..." Faux confidence colored his tone.

Many of the Avengers and SHIELD staff turned away, satisfied with the response, while a few squinted at him suspiciously. He tried not to pay them attention, he didn't need to make himself look overly suspect.

* * *

It was a couple of hours after the meeting and he was still at base with the team. They were gathered around the table discussing, much to Tony's disdain, the mystery villain who'd been putting them through their paces for the last few months. Bruce kept looking at Tony as the genius was rarely so quiet when it came to group discussions. He was a man with an opinion and not afraid to show it.

It was a rabid debate over whether this person was slowly building up to something huge or if this was it; they'll keep doing these attacks until they're stopped. Natasha and Bruce believed the latter whilst Thor and Clint put out a good argument for the opposite.

It was after several minutes of debating that Clint turned to Tony and nudged him.

"What about you, Stark? Normally you can't keep your mouth shut when it comes to your opinion." Barton laughed.

"I... Uh, I don't know. I guess it's just one offs." The dark haired man shrugged.

He peered down at the table as the other continued to argue about it. It didn't feel right to be debating about what'll happen next when Steve himself had told Tony that he'd keep making these challenges until they caught him... Or defeated him? Does death count as victory? Tony didn't believe the mastermind would go far enough that he gets himself killed but he'd only spoken to him once and Natasha didn't seem to care about that boundary between alive and definitely dead.

He left not long afterwards. He could feel himself getting increasingly torn in separate directions over this conflict. Sure, there was guilt for not telling the team but at the same time, he was curious to see what else Steve could produce. In his mind, Steve wasn't a baddie. He was just a man who needed to create for his mind to be stable and that was something Stark understood on a personal level. The guy needed to create and he needed the Avengers to step up their game in order to keep him engaged.

Tony Stark understood that and plus, he needed to spend some time in the workshop updating his security...

* * *

Steve typed in the code which de-activated the device and the whirling sound began to die out. He pulled it into the backpack he'd left nearby and began running over the rooftops again. He'd being doing these parkour like stunts for years as a source of adrenaline so he knew his way around by now.

He slipped into an apartment a few hundred feet from the rooftop where he'd set up. He knew in the chaos of what had just happened it wouldn't be occupied for at least a little longer. He changed into his civilian wear; dumping the full black outfit and mask to instead wear a light tee and jeans with a baseball cap and glasses.

He was slightly worried that Stark would spill everything to SHIELD but he knew that the lure of a challenge would prevent the genius from taking him down right there and then. Steve just had to hope that he wouldn't bend under the pressure of people like Black Widow who had the skills to make him talk. In some capacity he trusted the billionaire even if he was renown in the media for being an absolute dick.

Moments later he saw Iron Man arrive on that rooftop. The superhero surveyed the area, clearly looking for any sign of his new acquaintance and the transmitter he'd previously placed there. The genius' eyes scanned the surrounding area and, airing on the side of caution, Steve ducked out of view of the window; not that he'd be able to recognize him anyway. The blond man watched as Stark took off again and barrelled off in the general direction of the SHIELD base.

He sighed before leaving the apartment; he didn't want the homeowner walking in on him. He was slightly conflicted over whether to even bother working on another plot. Perhaps his attention would be better spent elsewhere? It's not like the Avengers were managing to keep up with him... Although he'd enjoyed his talk with Stark even if it was brief.

Stark was a handsome man, he wouldn't deny that and studying the man's past had only made him admire him further. It'd secretly been a honor for him to meet someone as influential as Stark... especially now he'd began to accept his interest in men and Tony was a good looking guy.

He began to stroll home with his thoughts ticking into overdrive.

* * *

There was a knock on the door to his workshop but Tony intentionally ignored it in the hopes whoever it was would just go home. The digital screens glistened before his weary eyes as he tapped out commands and codes.

There was a knock again.

"Yes?" He huffed, wheeling around in his chair to face the entrance.

Bruce edged around the door looking guilty for disturbing his work. The scientist shuffled forward toward his friend.

"Um, the team were thinking of going out tonight and since you haven't been answering your phone..." He gestured to the cell lying discarded on a different workbench. He shifted. Tony watched his awkward friend and knew that asking for anything wasn't the physicists usual socially awkward style.

"What day is it?" He asked in place of a response.

"Thursday." Bruce smiled in the hopes of coercing his friend to accompany him. Stark was the only avenger that he felt actually understood him and how he felt. "You've been working down here for 48 hours."

Tony glanced from his friend to the program opened up on his screens. He knew he'd been down there for a while unlike most times he has prolonged stays. This time had been different; he wasn't just tinkering and working out the kinks as he went. This time he was working with a purpose and with an opponent so it almost felt like a challenge of his intellect that he had to prove. Steve had been so cocky about his ability to hack in like he was smarter that the genius playboy himself.

Bruce noticed the way Tony's eyes lingered on his work like it actually held some significance. He wasn't an expert in engineering or IT but knew enough to get by. He approached the monitors and peered into the code. Two creases formed in between his brows.

"What are you working on?" Dr Banner questioned, eyes only briefly breaking connection with the screen.

Rubbing his hand over his face, Tony sighed, "Upping the security."

Alarm seemed to permeate across Bruce's features, he knew he was safe in the Tower but there were a lot of people out there who'd be more than happy to get their hands on the Hulk if the opportunity arises. He swallowed heavily, "Has there been breaches?"

Tony lied and shook his head, "Just a punk trying to test my abilities but I didn't want to risk it."

"... So you're not coming tonight?"

Tony smirked, "I didn't say that. How long do I have?"

"6 hours... But you're running on no sleep." Bruce was tempted to tell the genius just to stay home and get some rest but, as per usual, Tony had a comeback ready.

"That's twice as much than usual." He smirked and swirled his chair back around the face his workstation. He began rapidly tapping at the keys, determination set.

The Doctor sighed and began to slink back out of the chaotic workshop. Tony could never resist the call of a challenge even if it was pretty useless. He hoped it would work out well though. Living with a defeated Tony Stark was hell on earth.

* * *

It was almost week since Steve had last caught sight of Iron Man and he was beginning to get the familiar sensation of being bored to oblivion. There was only so much drawing, painting and creating one human could stand in such a short period of time. He was itching to get his teeth stuck in to a project. One that preferably would put SHIELD's greatest to the test once again.

There was a ping from across the room so he peered up from his cold Chinese takeout to where his laptop was propped beside the AC to keep it cool. He abandoned his dinner knowing that the noise could mean only good things. He pulled the lid open and gazed upon the code on the screen.

A smirk slowly developed on his face: Tony Stark had updated his security so it now expelled Steve's program from inside.

He hoped the genius had been serious and improved it significantly.

He pulled the laptop on his lap and settled down for a long session of deciphering which direction Mr Stark had chosen to go. Once he figured that out he could go about trying all the ways he knew to get his own program into the system and disguise it so it couldn't be detected. All without alerting the fire wall. He chewed his lip to suppress his grin. This should be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

The sun assaulted his eyes once he finally managed to pry them open. His head was pounding like a thousand tiny workmen were sledgehammering against the sides of his skull. Even for the infamous Tony Stark, this was one hell of a hangover.

He raised his head and peered around him. Somehow he'd actually ended up in his own bed, fully dressed but he'd make allowances. There was no doubt in Tony's mind that Bruce had some sort of hand in getting him this far but had been completely unwilling to strip him down.

At least he was in the recovery position so he couldn't have drowned on his own vomit during the night.

He glanced at his alarm clock which indicated it was nearly 2pm in the afternoon. He'd slept away the whole day but he'd been pretty grateful that he hadn't woken earlier because he honestly wouldn't have been able to cope. His mouth felt like the bottom of an industrial landfill and tasted pretty similar too.

He jumped when JARVIS's voice appeared from nowhere, "Sir, Dr Banner has asked to see you as soon as you wake up. He is significantly distressed."

The genius winced and dropped his head into his hands, "What the fuck did I do last night?" He muttered beneath his breath. If Bruce wanted to leave due to some stupid drunken acts he would be mortified.

He dressed quickly and headed straight down to the lab where his friend was pacing like a nervous wreck. He looked as though he was having severe issues holding in the 'Other Guy'. Upon the ping of the elevator, Bruce swung around instantly and relief melted onto his face.

"What's up, Brucie?" He smiled but the look disappeared when he noticed the genuine concern in Banner's eyes.

"Look." Was all the physicist had to say while pointing to the screens behind him. The same two sentences were printed on each one in large black text like a screensaver.

 ** _Try again, Mr Stark. The next attack will be closer to home. -S_**

The two men shared a look before Tony cursed violently. This guy was clearly better than he'd anticipated. The two days he'd spent reprogramming the firewall and systems had been infiltrated by one man in 12 hours. He almost didn't believe it to be true.

"Are all of them like this?" Tony asked, leaning his head.

"Every screen in the Tower and I mean every screen." He pulled out his cell which had the same text plastered across the lock and home screens. There didn't seem to be any damage to the actual cell nor was there any data missing. It appeared to be more a show of strength than anything malicious, "Is this why you were reinforcing the security?"

Stark nodded, feeling mildly overwhelmed but the spark of competition began to blossom and take hold in his chest, "I'm afraid I may have entered into a slight pissing contest."

"Against who?" Banner looked appalled that the billionaire would put all his data and information at a risk just to win a battle of egos.

There was a second where Tony considered telling the truth but eventually he decided to bend the truth slightly to keep Steve to himself, "I don't really know..." Which wasn't a whole lie since he knew nothing about Steve aside from his athleticism, intelligence and fine jawline, "Have you tried opening anything on the system?" He nodded to the screens behind him to which his friend shook his head.

"I didn't exactly want to touch it." He admitted, his years on the run making him rightfully suspicious.

Tony approached the computer and clicked to open a file. Nothing important just notes from an old experiment of Bruce's. Instantly a video began playing on all the screens. It showed Bruce trying to force a drunk Stark to lie down on his bed when the genius was trying to jump up and, from the looks of the footage, serenade his friend. Tony tried not to act embarrassed but on the inside he was cringing.

"I didn't know you had cameras in your room..." Bruce spoke up, breaking the awkward silence.

"I actually forgot. I put them there in the blueprints in case of any emergency or whatever but I've never had a need to check them. The system had never flagged anything unusual." He shrugged and answered truthfully. "I wonder how he found this footage. The cameras are under all sorts of protection..." The time stamp said 3am which made Tony realise just how early on in the night the infiltrator had managed to access the files.

There was a moment of silent thinking before the scientist asked, "What about JARVIS? Surely he picked something up?"

"Apologies, Dr Banner. I was disabled from 2:39am until 4:01am." The AI responded.

"Why didn't you mention this before, J?" Stark frowned, lines forming in his forehead.

"I was programmed not to, sir." The accented voice answered.

"By who?" Banner spoke up again. Tony didn't ask the question as he already knew the answer. He hoped that JARVIS hadn't managed to grab the ID of the hacker. He crossed his fingers behind his back.

"I'm afraid I do not know, Dr Banner."

Bruce and Tony shared a concerned look. He may think Steve is harmless but it didn't mean that he didn't have to potential to do some serious damage to both his systems and the city.

After a few more minutes the video stopped and the file opened as normal. They tried other files but it seems that the video was only set to play once.

Stark shivered but he couldn't help but be slightly excited for the next challenge. Perhaps now that he knew their opponent it'd give them an upper hand and actually give the Avengers a chance of beating Steve for the first time.

"What does it mean 'Closer to home'? They'll hack more private details?" Banner interrupted the other man's thoughts.

"I don't know." He spoke the lie easily. He didn't want his friend to know that Steve wouldn't be talking about hacking. The next attack meant the fifth attack against the city to challenge their team. However, what he did not know was what the mysterious message meant. If he was going to personally go for them one by one then that wasn't playing fair.

* * *

File uploading... Please wait.

Steve grinned as he watched the loading bar slowly creep along and the percentage slowly rose. He rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. He had to admit that this would definitely be his best one yet if everything went to plan. However, there were so many elements to consider and so much that could go wrong. He prayed that the light hint to Stark wouldn't give him away either. If the genius had already worked it out then his plan would be soiled from the beginning.

He checked the cameras in the Stark Tower again to satisfy his paranoia... He'd be able to detect when they were up to something suspicious, right? Tony was asleep at the breakfast table since his all nighter making changes to the suit had taken it out of him. He switched to Banner in his lab mixing chemicals and then spending way too long mapping and graphing the results by hand. Clearly he wasn't as technology savvy as his companion.

Steve had always felt for Dr Banner; the man had become a mutant whilst trying to replicate the serum that had made Steve who he was today. Once Steve had been defrosted and released back into modern society he came across Bruce's story pretty quickly. The newspapers were infatuated with the scientist-come-green-monster which allowed Steve to follow him easily. It became more of a struggle once the man fell off the grid but every few months he'd hear a whisper or rumor that the Incredible Hulk was spotted in some place or doing something.

The loading bar just tipped over 25%.

It was a well kept secret how much Steve admired the physicist and had expected more from him when he'd began going head to head against the Avengers team. The second attack was based purely on the reaction of chemicals in the water supply which would mutate humans into something else entirely. Of course it wasn't long term so within 4 hours every person was restored back to their natural state. Steve had to admit that he'd been disappointed when Bruce transformed into the Hulk to battle against the creatures instead of remaining human and putting his scientific knowledge to good use.

This time the task was far more suited for the man in the iron suit. Rogers felt it a safe bet to limit his face to face interaction to this particular member as he felt a particular bond with him. Being intelligent wasn't easy when he was a kid as he always got picked on so when the serum multiplied his IQ there really wasn't enough stuff in the day to maintain his attention. He felt this connected him to the billionaire genius. Perhaps it would be a mistake but at this point he was verging on desperate to be defeated. At least then he knew he could up his game.

50% completed.

Steve believed, and rightly so, that Natasha was the biggest risk to his life. The soldier was determined that most of them could be reasoned with but for some reason he couldn't imagine himself and Black Widow sitting down with a steaming cup of tea to talk out their differences. That's not saying that the others didn't pose a threat... Just that she was absolutely brutal and he was scared shitless of her.

75% complete.

A couple more days, Steve decided, and then he would play out this latest game. He needed to make some final checks to ensure it would be nothing but plain sailing on the day. He knew the Avengers were getting restless though. They probably knew something as coming since there had been nothing since the last attack. He prayed that they'd actually have their act together this time and put up a decent fight. The last few times had been so uninteresting and plus, they'd taken so long that civilians were beginning to get hurt and Steve had never signed up for that.

There was a ping that resonated throughout small living-dining room.

100% complete.

The grin slowly grew on the blond's lips like spreading fire. It was going to be good.


	4. Chapter 4

"If you keep making sounds like that people are going to think you're auditioning for a porno." Tony teased Natasha as she punched another robot out of her face. She didn't exactly seem ashamed of her grunts.

She dead panned at him, "The sooner this is over, the better." She ducked as a metal arm flung over her head, "This has his name all over it."

She was right. The latest challenge stunk of Steve's MO since it involved messing with technology from afar. This time, Stark didn't know how he'd managed it but, Steve had somehow gained control over every piece of AI in the whole area. Robots, supercomputers and even cell phones had it out for them but for the life of them, they couldn't figure out what connected them.

An arrow tore past them, narrowly missing them to strike through the core of the evil device. The arrow came out the other side taking the microchip, circuit board and wiring with it. The device, which had been wheeling itself toward them threatening a deadly electric shock, dropped down mere inches from their feet.

They looked back to see Clint give them a mock salute and jump off in the direction of his next victim.

"Isn't this supposed to be your area of expertise?" Romanoff questioned with a layer of tension to her tone, "Out of everyone you should be able to work this out, Stark." She shook her fist after punching through a layer of metal which protected the inner workings. Even for a super spy that was painful.

"It's not that simple... I'd have to actually dismantle it and get inside."

Natasha smirked, "You're always trying to get inside something, Stark."

She reached down and grabbed some wiring off the floor. The whole circuit board went with it which allowed her to fiddle with all the inner workings. Small creases formed in between her brows as she took a closer look.

"Isn't this yours?" She held it towards his face so he could see the small microchip she was talking about. The words 'Stark Industries' was emblazoned across it in small letters. It was recognizably his work so maybe he didn't need to get a look inside to know what was going on. She pulled another from another metal robot, "It's the same."

"They all have my microchip? They're all from my tech..." He pondered but didn't stop beating off their attackers.

Suddenly a sentence sprung to the forefront of his mind: Try again, Mr Stark. The next attack will be closer to home. -S. His mouth dropped as all the dots joint together. Steve was using Stark's own technology to get any and every piece of AI to begin attacking the Avengers.

"I've got to go." Tony couldn't help but smirk under his helmet. Perhaps Steve would even be impressed with how fast he'd managed to figure out the plot. He rushed back to the Tower leaving a confused Nat fighting of the tech alone.

Minutes later he was landing on his landing pad which immediately began stripping him of his armour as he strode into the building. He needed to get down into the workshop and get a better look at what he was dealing with.

The elevator took an agonizingly long time to make it down to his basement. Tony went down tapping his foot impatiently the whole way but couldn't help but give a sarcastic yell when the doors finally opened again.

The first thing he noticed was his screens. It had been a few days since they were last hacked and had been back to normal since then. However, a message was once again placed upon every screen.

Is this tiring you out? Maybe you should take a nap and sleep on it?-S

The cocky son of a bitch knew exactly what Tony was going to do. He'd been watching him enough to know how his mind works. He'd known Stark was going to run to his workshop as soon as he discovered the connection between all the tech out there trying to kill them.

Tony scrambled toward the transmission station where a signal was regularly sent out with updates and data transferal to all his devices. Simplified, it controlled every piece of technology that had his microchip inside. He pulled at the wires in desperation to find the master chip that sent out the commands. He froze when his eyes made contact with it.

This was not his microchip. It didn't have his company on it but instead it was plain. It was grey but significantly beaten up so it was almost difficult to gage the color. He knew exactly which rough and tumble hacker this would belong to. It was too used to belong to anyone else. This was what was sending out the false signal. It would be simple to fix though; all he needed was to replace it with the real microchip...

His eyes darted around the station in search of his microchip. He looked under the station, on the floor and amidst the many wires but it had vanished. Panic set a light in his chest. He had to have the other microchip to replace this one as soon as it was removed otherwise there would be mass damage, not only to the devices but also to his whole system.

"JARVIS? Where did Steve put the master microchip?" He called out.

There was a few moments silence which Tony thought his loyal AI was not going to respond to him, "I recommend sir reads the message left by Steve." His voice was neutral and betrayed nothing of use.

The genius straighten up and sighed, rubbing his temples. There wasn't time for riddles when his teammates were out there being attacked. He shook his head and told himself to think I through. It couldn't be that hard if Steve made it up.

Take a nap and sleep on it

His mind jolted straight to the answer as though he knew Steve well enough to anticipate at least some of his behaviours. He began to sprint toward the elevator and smashed into the button that'd take him to the penthouse suite. The elevator was slow and Stark was flowing with adrenaline. He huffed with frustration until the doors pinged open.

He darted out into his personal apartment which was exactly how he'd left it this morning except for one empty coffee cup sitting alone on the coffee table. Tony knew that wasn't him as he always used his favorite mug in the mornings. His gaze immediately shot over to his bedroom door which was opened just a crack. He never left it open. He was grateful that he floor didn't creak as he crept toward the room.

Suddenly, Tony wrenched the door open to see Steve, once again dressed wholly in black with the mask, smirking at him from where he was reclined against the headboard of the ginormous bed. He looked pretty pleased with himself but also proud that Tony had gotten so far. His smirk blossomed out into a full blown grin.

"There are better things we could be doing on that bed that would make you just as happy... if not more." Tony was known for his charm but he was also renowned for his sleeping around and he knew it. He knew his reputation and ran with it.

"We could but I was hoping to spend a little more than 5 minutes here." He answered casually, gazing out the large windows, "I'm getting a great view right here... And the city doesn't look to bad either." He smirked, his burning blue eyes roaming up and down Tony's body. The mask covered the majority of the pink flush on his cheeks.

Tony had to shake himself out of it. They were on a mission and people were in danger.

"You have something I need." He held out his hand, palm up expectantly. A deep sternness had overcome his features, "I would like it back."

The masked mastermind sighed and pulled the small chip from his pocket and gazed at it. His large hands dwarfed the tech. Steve placed it on his hand and held it to Tony. His eyelids fell closed as though he was mourning the loss of his newly acquired object.

Tony moved forward to pluck it up and took a risk in the heat of the moment; he leant his head down and angled it until his lips softly bumped against Steve's. A free hand held the back of the man's neck as he deepened the kiss. The shock made Steve's jaw rigid at first but he quickly melted into the kiss reciprocating with passion.

When Tony went to pull back the criminal moved forward to prolong the kiss. He knelt up on the bed to equal their height so the billionaire wasn't bending down all while maintaining the kiss. He moaned slightly as he held Tony steady. Stark's mind was yelling at him to get the chip and run but a large part of him was telling him how he hadn't been kissed like this in years. Whoever had taught Steve to kiss like this deserved a fruit basket or 100,000 dollars; Stark's brain couldn't muddle though the thoughts while Steve was doing all sorts of sinful things with his mouth.

Steve dropped the microchip into the inventor's hand before slowly pulling away. He smiled gently at him.

"Don't you have to go and save the day, Mr Stark?"

Tony smirked and squeezed the microchip in his hand, "You'll be here when I come back?" He was cheeky enough to ask.

Steve seemed to consider for a second before answering, "I'll do you one better... I'll come with you." He slung his backpack over his shoulder.

He grabbed Steve's wrist and began to drag him out of the bedroom and back toward the workshop. The villain easily kept up with the pace he was setting though. With a sharp tug, Steve was in the elevator and already descending downward. Tony's eyes were glued to the number that indicated what floor they were passing.

"Thanks for keeping me company, JARVIS." Steve smiled warmly, eyes looking up as though he was addressing God instead of the AI.

"You hacked him?" He asked appalled that Steve would damage one of his only friends.

"Not really... Just enough that he saw me as friend instead of foe." He chuckled lightly.

The doors pinged and Tony was gone like lightening. The mastermind rolled his eyes and strolled over to the station that he was messing around with earlier. By the time he got there Stark was inserting the real microchip with care.

"Congratulations! You solved one of my challenges... Although this time I did give you more time before stepping in." He folded his arms a leant against the side of the station.

The billionaire was ignoring him to instead tune back into the frequency the comms was on and talk to the team. He was speaking at 100mph before the frequency had even settled properly.

"Is that it? Is it done?" He barked into his earpiece.

Clint was the first to respond, "What do you mean? The things are still coming from-" There was a second of pause when Barton knocked out another AI's system, "Fucking everywhere."

"It's not done?!" He cried to Steve, who's features were clouding over with confusion and denial.

"What do you mean 'it's not done'? Of course it is done." The computer hacker shoved Stark out the way and began fiddling around with the cables and chip in the station. He wiggled the microchip in its port, "Well? What about now?!"

Tony checked in with Clint again but there had been no success.

"If you're lying to me I swear I will rip your spleen out." Tony thought that was the end of the challenge. He wanted it to be the end of the challenge. If Steve was lying to him and had actually

Created another secret level he would not be impressed. Attraction be damned.

"Lying to you?! What the heck would I gain from lying?" He began slamming demands into he keyboard but the code was doing nothing to deactivate the merciless attack the team were facing. His face was tinting the slightest pink color. "I need a computer."

Tony immediately brought up one of him many screens and pushed Steve in front of it. The mastermind looked less than impressed.

"I can't work on this!" He cried, absolutely appalled. He grabbed his old laptop out of the bag and slammed the malfunctioning microchip into the drive.

The inventor watched open mouthed as the genius mastermind was working on a beaten up heap of junk that had clearly been modified to Steve's needs on so many occasions. The lid was leaning back at a strange angle where the hinge had broken slightly. The corner of the screen was cracked in a spiderweb formation. He didn't even want to think about the chips and dents in the metal work.

"Please don't tell me you hacked through all my layers of security on that thing." His jaw was practically on the ground at this point.

"It's not about the size of the equipment, Stark." Steve muttered as his fingers moved across the keys so fast it was almost a blur. He was so distracted that Tony wasn't convinced he was even aware of the innuendo he was saying, "It's about how you use it."

His eyes darted across the screen as his frown got increasingly deeper. Fingers typed and typed. Stark raced over to watched over his shoulder. He'd never seen code so complex in his life and he'd spent a lot of his life staring at codes. The other man seemed in his element though, embracing the chaos.

A voice crackled over the comms into his ear, "Stark? Where are you? What's going on?" Clint asked while panting.

He stepped away from Steve to talk to his team mates, "I'm in my workshop. It's the master microchip that was swapped out for another one but this one makes them want to kill." He explained quickly.

"Okay, swap it back?" Natasha proposed.

"I did but it'd not working. We're re-rooting the code to bipass what was placed by the attacker."

"We?" Barton asked, "Who's we?"

Tony cursed himself. He glanced over his shoulder to where he could see Steve bent over the work station with his butt stuck out. It almost seemed as though he hadn't even realised Stark was no longer stood over him as the guy was so absorbed in his work. His brown eyes searched the room in desperation.

"JARVIS. Me and JARVIS." He sighed, relief flowing through his whole body. He thanked the gods that he always had his AI around to get him out of trouble.

"Fine but me and the team are going to make-" There was suddenly a crackle as Clint's earpiece was knocked straight off the side of his head. It was getting messy out there.

Stark made his way back over to Steve just in time to see him peeling out of his black jumper. Underneath he wore a white tank that exposed his muscles. Tony swallowed. The jumper was discarded on the floor behind the desk. The mask was still in place.

"If I knew you were going to be stripping I would have brought some ones." The billionaire smirked, managing to find the humor amidst the chaos. He pursed his lips as he attempted to not look overwhelmingly disappointed. He wasn't used to one minute having someone's undivided attention to the next second being almost completely ignored.

Meanwhile, the mastermind was becoming increasingly frustrated with himself. He smashed his fist against the corner of the table and the metal bent as though it was made of paper and Steve was an origami master. The man rubbed roughly at his temples before smashing out more commands on the keyboard. The click of the keys resounded out.

"How did you do that?" Stark muttered, eyes glued to the corner of his desk. The table was at least half an inch thick of pure metal.

This was the first time the playboy had managed to grasp the other person's attention for even a mere moment. He hasten to admit it but it actually sent a small thrill through him. He took the opportunity to press more about this man's obvious abilities.

"I'm just strong." He muttered as he turned to continued altering the microchip.

Tony raised an eyebrow and watched his friend. He'd never seen strength like that from a regular human and was pretty convinced that it'd actually be completely impossible for a man to cause such damage. His mouth was open to speak when Steve began murmuring to himself with growing ferocity.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. How could I have gotten this so wrong?" There was mounting pressure as his teeth ground together.

"Steve, everyone makes mistakes." He was consoling a master villain. How was this his life?!

"No, I can't. You want to know why? Because if I make mistakes then people get hurt." He hissed, his anger boiling over, "And if people get hurt then I'm the bad guy. I'm not a bad guy, Mr Stark."

"Fix it then before you can become the bad guy." He stated.

That was all the motivational pep talk Steve needed to once again plow into his own challenge. What had gone wrong? He could bipass it but to solve the problem would prevent further issues in the future. It was taking too long. He hadn't planned for this. He was going to relay the code past the intrusion to neutralize the technology.

There was a noise as the elevator got called up and Steve froze at the controls. He swallowed tightly and turned to Stark.

"I've gotten this far. I'm not leaving this unfinished." On that he pulled the mask over his head and dumped it into his backpack on the floor. His blond hair flopped over his forehead, complementing the softness of his blue eyes. His smoothed it back with his fingers. He had completely transformed from all in black to a normal outfit.

"Seeing you like that is making kissing you earlier retroactively enjoyable..." Tony spoke without even a twitch of humor in his face. Steve raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

PING!

The elevator door clicked opened and the whole team strode out with only a couple of scratches and bruises. They looked formidable making Steve want to melt away into the very brickwork. This probably wasn't the best time to be introduced to the four other people you've been fighting it out with. There was an urge deep within him to flee but he tried to push it down and remember everything he'd learnt about being a coward from the army. (Pro tip: Don't be)

They all appeared normal but somewhat curious until their sights landed on the tall, blond man standing in the middle of their teammates workshop. Black Widow's eyes squinted immediately under the weight of her suspicion. Steve had no doubt that she recognized him from somewhere if only she could remember where.

"Captain Rogers?" A voice spoke up from the back and Dr Banner stepped forward. Steve's heart sunk like a tonne of bricks. He knew someone would remember him.

"Pleasure to meet you." He gave them the megawatt smile he usually reserved for scraping his way out of parking tickets and getting cheap drinks.

Iron Man's gaze flew back and forth from the Avengers to Steve as though he were watching a game of super speed tennis, "Wait. Who?"

"That's Captain Steve Rogers. The soldier selected to receive the serum in project rebirth." Banner explained. Clearly he was the one to recognize him since he was the only one who'd spent years poring over his files before hitting himself with gamma radiation.

"You are?" Tony's face grew open and a mix of surprise and betrayal decorated his features. "You're Captain America?" Sure he'd been a fan as a child but in recent years he'd chosen to reject the figure.

Thor piped up from the back, "Who is this Captain of America?" He got ignored by the team.

"I was." Steve corrected, "Before I crashed my way into ice and didn't emerge for 70 years. I'm not him anymore and I never could be again."

"Wait... Who did you think he was?!" Clint cried from the front of the group, watching intently. Stark had clearly been interacting with this guy and he didn't even know his name?

"Just... Steve." He admitted. There was no point lying when Natasha was staring at him so intently.

"What's he doing here?" Natasha asked, her face not showing how unimpressed she felt that Stark had just dragged some ex-hero in without telling them. Without telling anyone. She'd heard when they'd defrosted the super soldier and was aware of his choice to remove himself from the world of SHIELD. However, that had been years ago so his face had barely even rang any bells.

"Just..." Tony waved his hands around. The group stared at him.

"Helping out." Steve finished for Tony sending the genius a small, unsure smile. "...Ask JARVIS if you're doubting it."

Tony and Steve shared a look before Steve nodded in some sort of reassurance. Almost as though he was guaranteeing the other man of something.

"What are you doing then?" Agent Barton asked stepping further into the workshop and gazing around at the various projects lying about in assorted stages of completion. His sharp eyes clearly searching out the solution to whatever they'd been fighting outside.

"We are trying to-"

"There this microchip-"

The two geniuses started at once. They stopped when their words clashed and peered across at each other. Tony swore he could see a slight blush grow upon Captain America's cheeks. The billionaire smiled down at the floor satisfied he'd gotten a reaction from the man.

"Well, it's great to know you two are getting along so well but I think we have a disaster to avoid." Natasha rolled her eyes.

Tony instantly snapped out of it, "Right! Saving the city."

Steve immediately turned to bend down over his laptop and Stark joined him, his mouth moving a hundred miles an hour as he voiced his ideas. The rest of the team knew they had nothing to add so made a group decision to vacate the area and wait it out on a different floor of the Tower.

They'd been gone for a few minutes before Steve ducked his head and sighed, "They're going to be talking about me."

"I would be too if I were them." He noticed the way Steve's shoulders tensed as he said it so backtracked, "I mean... Better they talk about getting to meet Captain America then their plans to destroy Steve the masked mastermind?"

Steve huffed a laugh, "I suppose but I'm not him anymore... You know that, right?"

Those glistening blue eyes bore directly into Tony's soul, or whatever he had in place of a soul, begging him to accept this lifestyle choice. Captain America wouldn't have lowered his Shield without deep thought and the guilt of stepping down would forever haunt the usually masked criminal. He needed to know Tony understood that.

"Yeah. I understand." He wanted to make a joke and deflect from the sensitive moment they'd just shared but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Hope took root in Steve's eyes and the genius couldn't bring himself to crush that.

"Anyway," Steve coughed. He turned to the computer continued typing the code. Every now and again Tony would point out a mistake or improvement but they mostly ran like clockwork for the next hour.

Finally it was ready.

Steve placed it delicately into Tony's calloused hand and huffed out a sigh. If this didn't work now he'd officially be the worst hacker on Earth. Stark took it and immediately inserted it into the slot. They stared at each other as they waited for some sign.

A voice came over the comms. It was Fury, "The mission has successfully been completely. Return to base as soon as possible."

The team responded in turn but Stark didn't answer. He was instead smirking at Steve whilst trying to prevent his pride shine through.

"You're a crappy super villain, you realise that?" His grin was unleashed, allowing some humor to infiltrate the building tension between them.

Steve Rogers laughed, "So maybe we should drop the 'Super' bit and just stick with regular old villain."

"I'm not convinced you're even that bad."

A hand was thrown against his chest in mock horror, "Never in my life have a been so insulted! And that's including how I used to get greeted by the milkman as 'Beanpole'."

"Beanpole? Seriously?" He cracked up laughing, holding onto the desk to ensure he didn't collapse.

Steve smiled at the laughing man, "I'm not a villain and I'm not a beanpole but, at this point in time, I don't really know who I am."

Stark swallowed his laughing and gazed up at this Adonis, "Nobody really knows who they are, Steve. Don't best yourself up over it."

"Except for you... What was it you said, 'Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist'?" He tried to keep a stone like expression but it grew increasingly difficult as giggles were building up inside him.

"You heard about that?"

"It was hard not too. I don't know if you realise but you actually mutter it to yourself all the time."

They grinned at each other. Tony's gaze fluttering down to Steve's lips. The mastermind noticed and leant down until their lips bumped together. Within seconds they were passionately making out against the workstation.


	5. Chapter 5

"Stark." The voice of Fury brought him back out of his reverie and crash landing back into the silent conference room. Every pair, and not quite pair, of eyes were beating down on him like he held the secret to eternal life. He blinked up at the Director in the hopes he'd repeat whatever he'd been shouting about.

"Why didn't you tell anyone you'd been working with Captain Rogers?" The exasperation was oozing from every word. He'd been working with Tony for too long.

"Because I didn't know it was Captain Rogers." He stated, frustrated that he'd been forced to actually participate in this meeting. Usually he could get away with just staring into the void and everyone ignoring him.

The teams gaze went from Stark back to Fury expectantly.

"How could you not know you were talking to Captain fucking America?"

The billionaire shrugged, sinking lowering into his chair. He really wanted to be anywhere but here, "He's Steve. He introduced himself as Steve so to me he was Steve."

"And you didn't do background checks or even recognize him?!" Fury fumed.

Stark shrugged again feeling like he was getting backed into a corner, "It didn't seem important and he's not quite as recognizable when he's not wrapped in an American flag." He snapped.

"What's he even been helping you with?" Agent Hill asked from the corner of the room. She stepped back when everyone's eyes landed on her including Stark's pissed off gaze,"Sorry."

"No," Natasha spoke up, "She's got a point." Her suspicious gaze once again landed upon Tony. She knew that he was hiding something.

"Just algorithms and code but if you guys prefer for me to work alone down there... Never eating, sleeping, communicating."

Everyone knew he was guilt tripping them but they also knew that he did have a point. Tony did spend the majority of his time isolated down in the workshop and wouldn't emerge for days. Perhaps Steve Rogers would even be a good influence.

"Fine but we'll need regular updates on his status."

"What?! Why?!" Stark gaped, throwing his hands in the air. He pushed himself up in his chair so he was leaning against the table

"He has potential." Fury raise an eyebrow inviting challenge.

"He doesn't want to be an Avenger. He said so himself." Tony argued.

"We still need to keep an eye on him." Fury barked before beginning to talk about other things on the agenda.

Tony sank back into his chair and rested his chin in his palm. This was totally unfair! He'd only just discovered that his masked mastermind was Captain America and SHIELD was already jumping in to interfere. Couldn't they let him have just one good thing in his life? He sat huffing and sighing through the rest of the meeting to ensure they all knew how mad he was. Of course they were all aware; Tony Stark doesn't do subtle.

* * *

The Tower was silent as usual when Tony finally got home. It was empty as it should be but loneliness began to creep in. Sure, he was used to being alone but he certainly wasn't used to being lonely. It had never really affected him so much. Plus, Pepper was at some art showing all night so he couldn't pester her.

He stepped out the elevator into his living area and sighed, "Is Steve here, JARVIS?"

"No, Sir. Captain Rogers left the building shortly after you." The AI answered smoothly but with a knowing tone.

"Do you know where he went?" He asked, pushing toward the kitchen to make some food. His stomach had been grumbling for the last hour on the way back from base.

"He mentioned that he had an appointment but did not mention where."

"You like him?" Tony had grown curious to how a criminal had managed to slip into his home without JARVIS alerting him immediately.

"I'm not programmed to favor people, Sir." The voice replied with mild sass.

"But I know you do so..." He left it open for the AI to respond.

If JARVIS could have sighed he would have, "Yes, Sir. Out of all your companions I do favor Captain Rogers. I believe he enjoys my company likewise."

"Yeah, he's a nice guy."

"Anything else I can do for you, Sir?"

"Not tonight. Thanks."

"My pleasure."

Tony felt something in his stomach like a burning hunger that wasn't being satisfied with food. He recognized it and sighed. The billionaire strode over to his bedroom and slammed the door behind him. This was not ideal but he had no way to call up Steve and invite him over. That's if the man didn't have a partner already? Tony thought it'd be likely. A catch like Steve wouldn't be available for long.

His eyes caught on the bed where the sheets were rippled. Steve had lain, sat and knelt their only a few hours ago. He could picture him there but he now could see him without his usual black get up... He could also imagine him in nothing at all.

He discarded his t-shirt and threw himself down onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He unzipped his jeans, shucked his underwear and pulled out his member. He wasn't new to the whole masturbation scene but he rarely did so with an actual person in mind. This would be the first time since he and Pepper had split.

He reached down into his bedside drawer and pulled out his lube before squeezing it onto the palms of his hands. Tony discarded the tube to instead focus on himself and the object of his newly developed fantasies: Steve Rogers.

He began to stroke himself and couldn't help it when his back arched at the sensation. It felt good to be touched again. He could imagine Steve's hands ghosting over his cock. The larger, softer hands would elicit louder moans and ignite him faster. He moaned into the silence of the room. He stroked himself faster and rougher. The desperation of weeks of frustration building within him. Steve's mouth on him, on his body, his cock. His hips bucked off the bed as the images flashed in his mind. The heat began to curl inside his belly digging deeper and deeper.

"Steve." He groaned, throwing his head against the pillow.

He worked himself until he was on the edge. His breaths coming as heavy pants as he fought to maintain some sort of control. But his fantasies were still coming full force. Steve kissing at his neck while those hands lightly squeeze his ball sack and stroked his stiff member. Him thumbing the slit and everything collapsed around him.

There is an explosion of white behind his eyelids as he feels the growing heat in his stomach suddenly burst leaving him reeling in utter please. The sound of him crying out Steve's name echoed the empty room. Come splattered up his chest but he hasn't quite yet landed enough to care. He tried to slow his breathing but couldn't quite get a grip on it.

"JARVIS, don't you- ever tell Steve- about this." He panted, his head lulling back.

"Of course, Sir."

He felt reassured of JARVIS alliance. There was no way he'd tell the mastermind that Tony had jerked off to the thought of him all over his body. His dick twitched again but Tony knew that after an orgasm that powerful there was no way he'd be up for another round, no matter how tempting Steve was.

* * *

Steve was running. He didn't want to stink like sweat by the time he got there but he was running late and Sam was going to kick his ass. It'd taken a little bit too long... Okay, a lot too long. He'd had to stick around that Tower to try and fix his mess and now the whole Avengers team knew his face. He rubbed at his temples, he was gunna get a headache.

He sped around a corner and slowed to a walk as he straightened his tie. He could not turn up at his own art exhibition running. There was things eccentric artists did and then there was crazy people.

"Steve, I actually thought you weren't gunna show. Where've you been, man?" Sam berated him from where he'd been pacing by the front door, "It doesn't matter. Come on, you should have done your speech 10 minutes ago." He grabbed Steve by the wrist and dragged him into the building.

He pulled him to the front of a reasonably large crowd and thrust a microphone into his hand. He peered down at it as though it had personally attacked him. The crowd were watching him intently which didn't make it any better. Steve shuffled off to the side.

"Sam," He hissed, "You never said there was going to be speeches."

"Look, just talk about your inspirations, what you do, your background yada yada. It'll be fine. Just pretend you're rallying the troops."

Steve stepped back out in front of all the people. Some held wine glasses, others held pamphlets and others held in interest in being there. Their eyes were expectant and refused to leave him.

"Hi everyone. I'm Steve Carter," The feedback from the sound system was awful but he fought on, "I'm originally from Brooklyn before I did extensive time in the army. Now, I try to live a more relaxed lifestyle so I paint which is something I loved to do my whole life. Most the pieces you find here are of the city or the landscape but more importantly, they're places I love and spend time. So, I won't take up all your time tonight but first I just wanted to say thank you for coming. The transition from a military lifestyle to civilian is difficult but art has been my way to escape. Thank you."

His speech was short and he worried that people wouldn't be satisfied but their applause proved him wrong. He smiled and waved awkwardly before slipping off to the right to find his friend. There was people everywhere so he had to politely push past his possible customers until he found Sam. The suited man was leaning against the front desk watching as he approached.

"I gotta say, you certainly have a way to win over the troops."

Sam Wilson was ex-military himself but had somehow become Steve's agent over the last 4 years. He was good at it too which was a relief because Steve could never fire him. He kept the sales going and pushed Rogers to paint more and be creative. This whole idea with the exhibition and fancy people drinking wine was his and Steve couldn't be any more grateful for his very existence.

Sam knew the truth; knew he was Steve Rogers not Steve Carter, knew he was once Captain America after the serum, knew he had a tendency for being accidentally destructive. He tried his best to keep Steve occupied but he wasn't his babysitter. They shared a flat and he was kind enough not to complain about Steve's projects lying about.

"Was that you today?" Sam asked quietly, gazing about at the people mingling and viewing the art. He only looked at Steve once in an attempt to act natural. He schooled his words to avoid arousing suspicion. Steve gave him a 'How could you think that' kind of look which made Wilson huff a laugh. He turned so it looked like he was leaning against the desk to peer down at the leaflets but in reality he was just ensuring nobody in the room could see his mouth,"I know you, man. I know your style. If you're telling me that wasn't you then I'll call bullshit. You know I will."

Steve raised an eyebrow as the words were hissed at him. He crossed his arms and leant back against the desk so he was closer to Sam, "It was me..." The super soldier gazed at the floor in shame.

"Took longer then usual." Wilson eyed him suspiciously. He was always looking for signs that his friend was about to turn dark side and tried to do it secretly but Steve knew him too well.

"There was a slight hiccup." He shrugged.

"What was it? What happened?" He pressed concerned for his friends health.

Steve made a 'nothing, nothing' gesture as a blonde woman strode up to them. They both grinned at her but Steve managed to dart away knowing that Sam was far better at dealing with potential customers. He had full faith in his agent/friend. Instead, he mingled and answered questions and smiled when people spoke and laughed when it was the right time. It's not that he was bad with people, it's just than he misses how people used to be. Every person reminded him of the modern world he lived in.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve could feel the burger sauce dripping down his hand but he couldn't care less. They were celebrating!

The two men stumbled the streets toward their small shared apartment, their arms locked around the others shoulders and a burger each. They had also happened to have drunk all the leftover wine from the exhibition. They felt elated and nothing could rain on their parade especially not the small shower coming from the sky.

"I can't believe it."

"You said that." Steve laughed, significantly less drunk than his agent. The serum meant alcohol wasn't as potent for him and he had to drink three times as much to get anywhere near drunk.

"Well, I still can't. I always knew you were a good artist but the chances of you making it big was like... 1 percent." Wilson enthused.

Steve grinned, "It just still hasn't sunk in yet."

"That woman though! 3 times the asking price!" There was a second of silence as he thought, "We should have done an auction." He said seriously.

"No way! It went great as it was. Plus, we only have a few pieces to lug back tomorrow. I say we... We both know it's only me that does the heavy lifting." He teased, shifting to take more of Sam's weight.

"Well, duh. You're a super soldier. I'm at risk every second of everyday that I could just throw my back out." He gestured down at the curb with his half eaten burger, "See! I could trip and die whilst you'll think you'd fallen on a cloud."

They managed to make it back to the apartment in one piece and got ready for bed. Sam was still buzzing with adrenaline and alcohol but Steve pushed him down on his bed. Once his friend was asleep and in the recovery position he slipped out into his own room. He shuffled down comfortable and for the first time since he had gotten defrosted he knew he future was starting to look a little more stable.

He drifted off to sleep soon after with a grin plastered across his face.

* * *

"Sir, the Avengers have been trying to contact you." Jarvis' voice led him back to consciousness.

The genius blinked awake and wiped away the drool that had been trickling down the side of his cheek. Rubbing his eyes he sat up and gazed about.

"What time is it, JARVIS?"

"7:23, Sir."

He flopped back down and tried to ignore the vibrating sounds coming from his Starkphone. It wasn't on his bedside table where he usually left it so he leant over the side of his bed to grope for his pants. Checking to pockets of the jeans he found it there where it'd sat since yesterday night.

"Hello." He grumbled.

"Tony, it's Natasha. Get in the suit and head towards the hospital. I'll explain when you're on your way." There was the sound of helicopter blades thrashing on her end.

"Ergh, okay." He groaned rolling out of bed. It was officially too early to be up and he is too sleep deprived to deal. It was the first night's sleep he'd gotten in weeks even though it's only been just over 7 hours.

This better be something serious, He thought as he strolled out to get his suit on.

* * *

The sound of his bedroom door slamming against the wall made him startle awake. His heart was racing and eyes darting around for danger.

"Thank fuck." Sam swore from the doorframe, looking like relief wasn't a good enough word. He rested his head against the doorframe.

"What?" Steve asked, wide eyed.

"I actually thought you'd gone true psycho on me." He panted from the rush of adrenaline. He was stood there in his tank and boxers, clearly having only just woken up.

Rogers frowned and shook his head to communicate his confusion.

"There's a- it's a-" He sighed, "Just come and look."

Steve followed Sam out to where the small TV was tuned into the news. The red Breaking News header flashed in the bottom corner of the screen and the reporter was reeling off facts. Steve's brain immediately switched from 'sleep' to 'what the heck is happening'.

The woman spoke into her microphone, "Thank you, Michelle. Yes, all we can confirm at the moment is that the hospital is being held by someone or something which is causing staff and patients to walk themselves to the roof and leap off. Police and fire were here early in to limit access to the roof but there had already been 6 fatalities by this point. The Avengers arrived about an hour ago and have been looking for the source of this apparent mind control so they can neutralize the threat-" She continued speaking.

Steve's jaw was hanging wide. He was dumbfounded, "You thought this was me?"

"I'm sorry, man. It had your style and all." He shrugged.

"There's a kids ward there, Sam. People are dead." He said as though that answered any doubts floating about Sam's head.

Steve remained rooted in front of the TV for the next few hours. He kept Sam up to date with any progress as the man sat in his laptop working in the other seat but the ex-army pilot knew he was using that as an excuse to sit and worry about the out come. Steve would never hurt a fly and the thought that someone else was hurting people almost drove him to pick up his shield again.

It was four hours later, the Avengers had discovered the source of the mind control. It was a large ugly thing with wires and clearly unstable materials. The news people said it was going with the Avengers to be inspected by experts and then deactivated. As soon as Steve heard those words he left up and ran towards the door.

"I'm going out!" He grabbed his bag.

Sam didn't even bother to look up from his laptop, "You're not dressed."

The super soldier span around snd sprinted into the bedroom to change before darting out again leaving no evidence he'd just been sat there aside from the TV still playing. Sam sighed and switched it onto standby with the remote.

* * *

"Hey, JARVIS." Steve grinned as he walked straight into the elevator. He'd hacked JARVIS just enough to ensure he'd always be granted permission to enter. It would be easy to secure against if Stark wanted to so he took it as a good sign that he could still enter the building.

"Welcome back, Captain Rogers. What can I help you with today?"

"Is Stark in the workshop?"

"Yes, Captain. Is that where you wish to be taken?" The AI asked.

Steve nodded, "Let's go."

The elevator pinged and he stepped out of it. He wasn't surprised to see Tony Stark bent over the contraption with grease on his face and a deep troubled frown. The genius turned upon hearing the ping and began to speak.

"Hey, Bruce, what do you reckon this-" He turned and froze when he saw Steve standing there in his normal clothes and a grin. Tony's mouth folded into a scowl, "What the fuck are you doing here? Come to gloat?! To show off your prowess? Well, get the fuck out of my building. I can't even stand the sight of you. You're filth."

"What are-" Steve started but didn't make it to a full sentence.

"I thought I knew you Steve. I thought you were good but every word out of your mouth was bullshit! You lied to me and now people are dead!" His hissed.

"I didn't-"

"Don't try to fucking deny it. It's all you. It's practically got a pretty little bow on it and a label that says Love From Steve." He was panting from the anger within him. "You're not even worth it. Get you ass out of here and never even think about coming back."

"But-"

"You're a liar and disgusting. Leave now before I do something I probably won't regret." He turned his back on the soldier to continue working on the device.

There was a ping from the elevator and Dr Banner stepped out. He looked concerned and confused as Steve pushed past him into the elevator, tears threatening to spill over. The doors closed and the genius sagged. He would never clear his name after this.

"JARVIS?" Steve asked, sniffing, "You know how to contact me, right?"

"Of course, Captain Rogers but perhaps a cell number may be more convenient for sir?"

He nodded and reeled off his number to the AI. The trip home passed in a blur of emotions and disappointment. However, he couldn't decide whether the disappointment was aimed at himself or Mr Stark for not instantly knowing it wasn't his. There were so many signs that it was a fake: the hospital, the deaths, the time and there was no challenge or complexity. Anyway, he'd only pulled off a task yesterday. He actually needed time to plan these things. They don't just appear overnight.

He made it home and slammed the door behind him. Sam looked up as the large man stormed across the room and slammed his bedroom door behind him. The force made the wall shake slightly.

"So, I'm guessing that didn't go to plan." Sam muttered, sending off yet another email.

* * *

Bruce had questions, that much was obvious. The physicist kept stopping and staring across at Tony as though if he looked hard enough the answer would just float out if the top of his head. Either he didn't know how to phrase it or didn't feel he was in a position to ask. No matter what, Tony kept working with his head down and pretend not to notice his friend.

It was almost 10 minutes later that Steve made an appearance in conversation. It had taken Banner a while to work up the nerve.

"What was up with Rogers?" He gestured to the elevator, "I was gone 10 minutes and yet still managed to miss a whole conversation significant enough to make Captain America nearly cry."

"You shouldn't call him that."

"What?" He frowned.

"He's not Captain America. He's just some jerk now." Tony fiddled with an inconsequential nut.

"You guys had a falling out?" Bruce guessed.

There was a brief moment of silence in which Stark thought about what had just happened a few minutes before, "I think I was just expecting him to be someone he isn't especially after you said he was Captain America. All that stuff my dad said about him but he doesn't really live up to the legend. He's not the same guy he was. I mean, God knows what sitting in ice for 70 years does to a person. They can't come out the same person they went in as."

"You really think he's so different?"

"I never knew him but I know that can't be Captain America. He'd never do some of the shit that jerk has done."

Tony tuned out and instead focused on his work and Steve Rogers as Bruce began speaking about the possibility of personality changes due to the freeze. The moment he had heard the latest crime he had decided to kill Steve the next time he saw the man. Luckily for the soldier, by the time he finally saw him Stark had mostly convinced himself not to commit murder.

He couldn't believe he'd been so gullible and played straight into his hands. That'll teach him for trusting someone.

* * *

"Tony, are you listening to this?" Bruce asked after almost an hour of silent working. The scientist was frowning as he listened to the comms.

The genius quickly tuned in again and caught the gist of the conversation. They'd found the person responsible just before they'd launched another attack. Tony couldn't help but scoffing since Steve deserved everything that was coming his way. He continued fiddling with the mind control device until Clint said something that made him freeze.

"She? What do you mean she?!"

"Yeah, she. Her names Gillian McCartney. We found her transporting another mind control device over to an office building-" The archer kept speaking but Tony had blocked him out.

Crap. Steve wasn't responsible after all.

"JARVIS, can you pass a message on to Steve?" He muttered, red with shame.

"Of course, Sir."

"Tell him I'd like to see him." He picked up his screwdriver again and continued working on the thing.

"I feel that an apology may make Captain Rogers more likely to respond, Sir." The AI replied, barely managing to keep the sass out of his tone.

"Yeah, tell him I'm sorry." He murmured.

The billionaire could feel Bruce watching him but decided to ignore the man. He had work to do and really didn't fancy getting into what had happened or why he though Steve would be responsible. He put his head down and powered forward but still felt like he wasn't making quite as much progress as he should have been making.


	7. Chapter 7

There was a ping as Steve's phone received a text message so the ex-hero raised his head from where it'd been buried in his pillow and peered up at his bedside table. He didn't recognize the number so pulled down the cell to open the message.

Tony Stark: I'd like to see you. I'm sorry.

He rolled his eyes and slammed the device back onto the table. That jerk had no right to just summon him with that 'I'd like to speak with you' as though he hadn't just offended the fuck out of Steve. The soldier pushed his face back into the pillow and dragged the blanket over his head. He thought that him and Stark had an understanding! How wrong he'd been. The billionaire had only pretended to like him to get Steve on their side and know his actions.

There was a squeaking sound and Steve knew it meant his door was being tentatively pushed open by Sam. After spending a year or so working at the VA Sam seemed to believe talking everything out would make everything better and he seemed to try this on Rogers at least once a month.

The edge of his bed sunk down as the soldier rested against it but he didn't speak for a few minutes, "I'm guessing today wasn't great?" He stated as though they could have been talking about the weather.

"I don't need to talk about it." Steve huffed into the pillow which mushed up his words.

Wilson sighed, he knew Steve hated to place a burden onto those around him so tried to keep it all locked up. That was bad enough for an regular person but Steve had the guilt of hanging up the Shield to accompany that.

"What happened today?" His voice didn't push. It just reminded his friend that he was there and willing to listen.

"Stark was a dick." He huffed. He span around so he was facing the ceiling but the blanket still covered his head like a corpse.

"Stark? Like Tony Stark?"

"Yep." He popped the P.

"What were you doing talking to Tony Stark?" He knew the guy was an Avenger but why would Steve want to go and talk to the people he was obsessed with challenging?

Steve pulled the blanket off his head and sat up to talk directly to his friend. Sam needed to be caught up on a few details since he'd been too busy with the exhibition to be much use for Steve to talk to recently.

"I went to the Tower the other day because the challenge revolved around Stark's tech so I needed to access it. I stuck around a while though because I wanted to be there to step in when they undoubtedly failed. So I did but..."

"But?" Sam encouraged.

"I made a slight miscalculation so it didn't deactivate when it was fixed. I stepped in and after a little bit managed to get it all sorted. Anyway, that's not important. Basically today I went up to the tower to ask Stark if he needed help with the device they found and he thought it was me." Hurt radiated from the man's face.

"And?" As far as Sam could see it was a safe bet for Tony Stark to assume his new friend that created mind control machines was behind the latest mind control machine.

"And, he knows I would never kill people! Six people died today and he thought I was actually responsible?! And on a hospital! I'm not that sick."

"Maybe he doesn't know you well enough? He's just some guy you've spoken to, what, twice?" Sam justified. If he could make Steve see straight then perhaps he wouldn't hold a grudge against that billionaire.

"I just thought he understood. That's all." Captain Rogers sighed and rested his head against his palm.

The ex-soldier watched his friend carefully. He'd only seen that look on the man's face once before and that's when he talks about Peggy. The hero might not want to admit it but perhaps he had a little crush on Stark but the guy hadn't lived up to expectations.

"Look, we can't stay in and mope all day. Why don't we go out and find somewhere to do some painting?" He remembered that Steve recently brought a new watercolor set and had previously been pretty excited to test them out,"You can make it as glum and miserable as you like. Rain or whatever."

Steve's blue eyes peeped up at his friend, "You don't even paint."

"No but I can read and have that book I wanted to finish." The sun filtered through the curtains that had hurriedly been drawn, "It's a nice day. Might as well read it outside."

After a couple of seconds of pouty consideration, Steve dragged himself out of bed and grabbed his new watercolors. He didn't want to admit it to Sam but he was secretly looking forward to getting away from it all for a few hours and so they did.

So, several hours later you could find Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson sat on the roof of an apartment building several miles out side the city. Sam was nearing the end of his book about an army medic recovering from PTSD and Steve was halfway through a work of the skyline but, as suggested by his friend, dark ominous clouds dumped water into the high rise buildings.

And for now, they were both content.

* * *

They hadn't expected it but, as though Steve art had jinxed it, a heavy black cloud began floating across the sky towards them. Knowing better than to risk getting drenched they packed up and began the descent. They had plans to walk most the way home to save cash so wanted to get as far as possible before the cloud decided to release its load.

They were twenty minutes into their fast walk when Steve phone began buzzing in his jacket pocket. At first he looked confused but that quickly drifted into suspicion. He glanced this friend who was acting too oblivious to the ringing cell in Steve's hand.

"Did you put this in my jacket?"

The paratrooper barely spared a look across at the device, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Steve sighed and frowned slightly at the number on the screen. It was Tony's number. There was an internal battle as he tried to prevent himself from answering to the petulant man but he also wanted to know what he had to say for himself. He groaned before answering.

"Mr Stark." Voice was flat and monotonous.

"Steve? Is that you?" Desperation colored each word.

"Yes?"

"Look, I know I've been a dick and I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions but we need your help."

He sighed, "Why would you need my help?"

"Because we've moved the device to the SHIELD base and even with everyone here the programming is being a ... A challenge. I really didn't want to call you after what happened but at this point it's looking pretty desperate." He waited a couple of seconds before saying the exact words he knew would cinch it for Steve, "People are still at risk."

"Jeez..." He rubbed his forehead and noticed that Sam was nodding his head over dramatically to ensure his friend got the message, "Fine, where are you?"

"Just tell me where you are and I'll come and get you." Stark instructed, clearly relieved.

"No, give me an address and I'll make my own way." He didn't want to rely on Iron Man straight away. He wasn't doing this for him, it was for those people still trying to get to the top of the hospital to throw themselves off.

With a huff and melodrama, Stark gave him the address and as soon as he had done so Steve hung up.

"I need to go so SHIELD base. They're struggling with programming or something." He rolled his eyes. He'd only been in the modern world for a few years now but he was already better with computers than most people out there. He out it down to his dedication and decision to sit down and learn what he didn't know.

Sam took his art supplies and canvas, "If you don't get a move on they have it done before you even get there."

The super soldier nodded and hailed a cab. He looked back at his friend and waved before shooting off in the right direction. Sam sighed and tried to adjust his hold on all the stuff he'd been given. It took him twice as long to get home than it should have.


	8. Chapter 8

The building hadn't changed since he'd walked out four years ago. It still had dark gates surrounding it and tried way too hard not to look suspicious. The SHIELD logo was plastered across the front as though they were simply inviting trouble in.

He made it to the security guard booth but instead of a stranger instead Tony Stark sat there smirking. He had his feet up on the desk and arms folded across his torso casually. He seemed pleased with Steve's sudden appearance as though at least some of him thought the man wasn't going to show.

"Great! If I had to wait much longer you would have found a pile of bones." He joked lightly, leading the tall man through the open gates, "Don't tell anyone but I've basically been letting anyone through for the last ten minutes... Can you blame me though? They need a bit of excitement in there."

Steve didn't know if the genius was trying to appeal to his chaotic neutral side or if he really had humored himself by just waving anyone inside. So far he'd decided that to not speak too much would prevent Stark finding something to start a conversation about. He really didn't want to be with him and even more did not want to be in this place. To say it held bad memories was like saying the nuclear bomb holds a firework.

The billionaire gabbled on as they reached a truck and climbed in to drive to the workshop and IT centre. Meanwhile, Steve just practiced deep controlled breathing that Sam had taught him for his, admittedly less frequent, panic attacks.

When they arrived Fury was standing by the side of the door expectantly but Steve couldn't help but tense. He'd seen that man four years ago only days after he'd finally been brought from the ice. That was the only time he ever saw him aside from when he'd been leaving for the last time and glanced back to see the Director watching from a high window.

Stark must have noticed Steve's sudden increase in tenseness as he herded the man directly past the eye-patched guy and muttered, "Steve's not in a talkative mood today. Maybe we can catch up later."

Perhaps he wasn't such a bad guy after all. He'd noticed when Steve was distressed and acted upon it. He'd known when the super soldier wasn't acting normal and probably knew he was the cause. Steve tried to stop the small twitch of his lips.

"Okay, Steve." He rubbed his hands together, "I would introduce you to all those people but I don't know their names and don't particularly care to learn them." He gestured to the large teams surrounding the computers and the mind control device, "I've been trying to get to the bottom of this delight and we've come across some hardcore programming which everyone else here is struggling to comprehend. So I said to myself, 'hey, I know someone who gets off on hardcore coding and a challenge." His words flew out his mouth so fast that Steve doubted he ever thought about what was coming, "You up for it?"

Steve rolled up the sleeves of his jacket and sighed, "Let me see what I can do."

Minutes later he had finished connecting up all the computers he needed, much to the other techies distain, and had began to troll through the programmed code to see what it was running. His fingers typed in a blur to track deeper into what was held there. Eyes scanned all three monitors.

"I've... I've never seen anything like this." The corner of his lips pulled up into a smirk.

"And you were going to argue that you don't get off on this." Stark snorted, peering over Sam's shoulder at what was happening.

He blushed. He couldn't help that a challenge like this occupied his mind for long enough to stop the chaotic thoughts bounding around. He need things like this to stay sane.

"Shut up." He said with no malice.

An hour later they were in the same position, still working.

"How are you-" A woman came over to inquire about their progress but Tony turned on her immediately, "Don't talk to him while he's working."

Steve turned around and scowled at the man, "Did nobody raise you with manners, Mr Stark?" He smiled gently at the computer scientist, "We're making progress. Gotten through a few layers but I'm not sure how many there are... It must have taken that woman months to create something this complex."

He turned back to his computer and began typing away satisfied. Clearly Stark had never received basic teamwork practice. He must have been a hellish child.

* * *

It was the dead of night when Steve finally got to take a lungful of fresh air. Upon cracking the code he'd managed to sneak out whilst all the team where distracted in the hustle of disarming the device. He'd speed walked out the workshop and straight toward the front gate. He knew some people probably saw him go but it was late and he was finding it hard to care.

The guard on the front gate let him out with a friendly smile and Steve was on his way home. It was dark but he wasn't particularly bothered as his mind was too busy sorting though everything that had happened that day. His soles beat against the sidewalk for a long while before he even got close to his apartment but when he did he noticed the light was on and immediately knew Sam had waited up for him.

He unlocked the door and slipped inside. As predicted, Sam was sat on the couch with his eyes drooping a little further with each blink. There was only a couple of hours before dawn so no wonder his friend was feeling the strain.

"You didn't have to wait up for me." He placed a gentle hand on Sam's shoulder and squeezed gratefully.

"Nah, if you were gunna be a dirty stop-out I wanted to know about it to give me some new teasing material." He joked, rubbing his eyes and stretching, "How was it?"

"All good. Got it wrapped up so hopefully no more people throwing themselves unwittingly from rooftops, eh?" He smiled.

Sam took a moment to reply as he stood staring at his friend, "You've got a good heart, you know. You're one of the good guys." Within waiting another second he slipped off to his bedroom.

Somehow Wilson always knew when Steve had been thinking too hard and needed a little bit of encouragement or just some support. He didn't have anybody rooting for him and probably never would considering his actions but he knew that Sam would always be there supporting him and keeping him whole. Within his best friend to keep him grounded, Steve was pretty sure he'd be farther away from the straight and narrow.

* * *

Days later-

"Sir, Captain Rogers has arrived." JARVIS informed.

"Arrived?" He placed his spanner down on the floor next to him, "What for?"

"I do believe you sent a message last week saying you wanted to speak with him." The AI helpfully prompted.

The genius pulled himself up from the floor where he'd been doing work under a car-like device. He frowned and rubbed a greasy hand over his face. He'd secretly hoped that Steve had gotten over their slight argument during the process of saving the world last week but he guessed they didn't really have much time to talk. He should have guessed though as he hadn't heard from Steve even once since the man ditched SHIELD but that didn't mean Stark hadn't been thinking about him non-stop.

"What am I even supposed to say?"

"I'm afraid I'm not capable of independent thought. I cannot help you." JARVIS stated innocently despite the fact he'd managed several times before.

"Christ." Tony groaned. Stepping toward the elevator, "Where is he?"

"Your floor, sir."

Of course the criminal mastermind knew the layout of Stark's tower inside out. He wouldn't want to carry out this discussion in the workshop where Stark was always at threat of being distracted. And ensuring he arrived at their meeting place first brought it closer to neutral ground.

Stark sloped into the elevator and JARVIS immediately brought him up to the penthouse suite. He instantly spotted Steve out on the balcony. The soldier had his head tilted back, taking in the heat of the sun, and hair ruffling in the strong breeze. He didn't look at peace but looked like he was trying to ignore the clear tension he was carrying in his shoulders.

Tony took a breath before stepping out to join the man.

"You're here so often I'm actually considering charging you rent." Stark opened, jokingly. He grinned and tried to keep it in place as he noticed Steve's overly serious look.

Steve peered down over the railing at the roads all the way beneath them, "I wouldn't do it, you know?" He muttered, barely loud enough to hear over the wind.

"Jump? Because I'd hope not..." He tried to lift some humor despite the mild panic in his tone.

"Last week, you thought that was me. I wouldn't do that." He still hadn't even made eye contact with the genius.

He sighed, "I'm sorry, Steve. In the heat of the moment, it seemed like the obvious thing. I hadn't really thought it through before I said it."

"But you believed that I was capable of that. Of risking the lives of sick people, of risking the lives of kids... Killing people." Blue eyes gazed out to the horizon.

"No... I know you wouldn't do that."

"Really!?" Captain America snapped, staring right into his eyes, "Because everyone always thinks it's me. My closest friend thought it was me. Your team all thought it was me." He sighed, running out of steam, "Makes me feel like a monster. The monster I am, I guess."

"It could have been an accident. You could have started it but it got out of control or something! You shouldn't feel guilty for something you didn't do."

"What will you team think?"

"About what?" Frowning, he tried to catch Steve's eye again.

"When they discover it's me? Captain America, modern day psychopath." He spat, bitterly.

"Well, you clearly don't know the definition of a psychopath if you claim to be one because I know you and you aren't." He encouraged.

Steve looked up at him uncertainly, "You really think so?"

"I know so. You care Steve. Just because your mind runs you riot doesn't mean you want to inflict harm." He leant on the railing beside Steve, "You're a good guy. You even helped us out at SHIELD the other day when you didn't need to and you're not really on the best terms with that place."

Steve's tongue darted out to moisten his lips, "Sam always says he doesn't think I would do it but it's obvious he knows I'm capable."

"Well, obviously. It'd take a buffoon not to recognize that you're clever enough to pull of some horrific things but I think you have good morals."

"You say to a man who has nearly killed you and your team several times." He tried to injection humor into his words but they fell flat as they were fake.

"We know you didn't want death. You wanted to challenge yourself by going up against the best America has to offer." It was true. Steve always stopped the challenges before they progresses too far. He didn't want innocent civilians blood on his hands just because his mind struggled to keep itself entertained.

The soldier turned to face the billionaire and hadn't noticed how close they'd been standing. Their lips were mere inches away and Tony's eyes hovered down to how Steve's plump lips rested together.

"You always manage to make me feel better." Steve smiled gently, gaze also on lips.

Tony leant in first, feeling as though if he didn't make the first move then nothing would happen. The last time they kissed Steve was on an adrenaline high from the challenge and was feeling severely more confident. This time Stark knew he'd have to lead again for definite. He pressed their lips together gently, barely more than a peck, before it progressed further and Steve opened his lips to grant the genius access.

It was different from the last time they'd kissed; it was slow and passionate as though Steve was physically opening up to the playboy rather than hot and sensual. The soldier was pouring his emotions into the kiss and trying to tell Tony everything in this action. The genius lapped it up, enjoying the way this meant something so was different from most sloppy make outs he experienced. Tony rested one hand on the taller man's back to pull him closer and the remaining tangled itself in Steve's hair to stop him breaking away.

The mastermind's hands so migrated onto the other's body; one on his chest and the other resting on his shoulder where his thumb and forefinger could play with the short hair that reached down from his head. Tony moaned gently.

They parted for air.

"I guess I should check now before anything else... Who is Sam?" Slightly concern glimmered in the brown of his eyes.

Steve chuckled, letting his head drop forward slightly, "He's my roommate and best friend."

"Ah, good. I didn't want to be intruding on another man's territory." Stark smirked.

"I'm nobody's property, Mr Stark."

Tony was about to respond when Steve pushed their mouths together again and, as a result, they didn't talk again for a while.


	9. Chapter 9

It was almost 5 days later when the genius finally saw Steve again. He'd been worried that the kiss had been too much too quick and panicked he'd scared the other man away for good. He would have been more ecstatic about seeing him again if it'd been under different circumstances.

The team had finished a mission only hours before and after the debrief, despite Tony not remembering having inviting them at all, they all congregated in his Tower where they were now gathered around the kitchen table with piles of food between them. Clint was in the middle of being particularly aggressive about Tony trying to take one of his many Spring roles when JARVIS informed them of the situation.

"If you touch my food again I will rip out your spinal cord and make you wear it as a bow tie." The archer hissed, his threats getting increasingly creative the more time he spent bantering with Tony.

"Sir, Captain Rogers is on his way up in the elevator and I'm afraid is in urgent need of assistance." The AI interrupted the warm buzz around the table.

"Steve?" Tony instantly muttered, concern creating creases in his expression.

The soldier had never needed anything from Tony and had never asked for anything. He only came to the Tower or interacted with Iron Man when he felt the urge but it wasn't an overly common thing. They'd kept their lives remarkably separate so far, Steve having only coming to the Tower a few times and had only met the other Avengers once. It almost seemed as though the mastermind didn't want to be pulled into Stark's world as it would no longer interested or amuse him or perhaps the man just held no interest.

All eyes were on the elevator that they could see through the open doorway. Most were gazing on in anticipation aside from Tony and Thor who were expressing concern and excited curiosity respectively. It pinged as the doors opened and Steve stumbled out where he'd been leaning against the doors.

One hand was grasping the side of his stomach while the other was reaching out to steady himself. Tears of blood were cascading between his fingers that pressed the wound. He was panting as though he'd ran the stairs, not just rode in the elevator.

Tony was up and sprinting to Rogers before the man had barely taken a single step.

"T-Tonyyyyy?" The large man dragged out the word, his hand swinging out clumsily to touch the engineer's face. Tony ducked it to avoid a nasty bruised eye. "I don't know your friends here?" He stumbled through the words.

"What's wrong, Stevie?" He encouraged trying to make eye contact with the ice blue. Should be be offended that the first time Steve willingly used his first name was when he was drugged and stabbed? Probably not but he definitely was.

"Hey, 'ony! What'cha doin' hereee?" He slumped forward but Tony's arms where there to catch him.

"Bruce? A little help?" He called over his shoulder while struggling with the 240 pound male. He spoke to the ex-superhero now, "This is my house, Steve. I should be asking what you're doing here not the other way around."

"I'm really not this kind of doctor..." Dr Banner muttered as he stood to help anyway.

"'Stabbed. Right here." He pointed to his stomach wound.

"Let's lay him out on the couch so I can get a look at the wound." Bruce said to Tony over the blond man's head.

The super soldier lolled his head and sang,

"Oh, say can you see,

By the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed

At the twilight's last gleaming?"

They dragged his heavy body into the other room and the other Avengers followed to watch. This was only the second proper interaction they'd had with Steve and were more than interested to find out more about the man.

Thor was particularly excited, "I see America's Captain had returned from battle victorious! Congratulations!" The others ignored his over enthusiastic cries.

Banner held open the blue eyes and frowned, "He's been drugged."

The ex-American idol carried on oblivious to the crowd gather around him,

"Whose broad stripes and bright stars,

Through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched,

Were so gallantly streaming?"

Tony knelt beside him and rubbed his shoulder in, what he hoped was, a comforting manner, "You've gotta stop singing, Captain Crunch." He joked.

Steve's breathing was still rapid from the drugs and the loss of blood. Hopefully the knife hadn't hit anything important. They could only hope.

"Go get the medical kit." Bruce demanded and Clint was gone before he'd finished his sentence in the search of the kit.

The Doctor sliced the t-shirt opened and peeled it off the man. They all stared at his rippling muscles that they'd not expected to find there. It made sense when you thought it through... What else would be under a super soldier's shirt?

The drugged man seemed to notice everyone staring at him so feebly tried to hide himself with his large hands but in doing so he removed the pressure from the wound and it began to bleed profusely again.

Barton trotted back in and handed the kit across. His eyes also found their way to Steve's impressive body. His eyebrows shot up near his hairline.

"Jeez, you think as a soldier he'd want to keep himself in shape but this is just insulting." The archer's hands ghosted over his own torso, silently comparing himself to what he saw.

The soldier in question was now bored of (or perhaps complete forgotten that he'd been doing it) singing the National Anthem and was instead trying to get up and wander around. Tony and Bruce kept pushing him back down despite his moans and grunts in protest.

"Come on, Steve. Let Bruce fix you up." His hand rested on the back of Steve's neck, his thumb smoothed at the cool skin there. With two master spies in the room, he doubted this endearing touch went unnoticed.

"I gotta- gotta painting America..." The large man grumbled.

"That a boy. Just stay still." Tony encouraged him as Banner cleaned out the wound and checked to see how deep it is.

"Christ, It's pretty deep but not enough to hit any organs." The doctor muttered to reassure the genius as he pulled out the needle and thread. "This'll only pinch a little." He warned before beginning to sew up the wound.

The soldier barely realised when the needle pierced his skin, the drugs were keeping his mind occupied. The pain was overwhelmed and only minorly registered at all.

"Who did this to you?" Natasha spoke up for the first time, her arms crossed against her chest.

Steve peered around in search of the owner of the voice but it was a struggle as his vision wouldn't settle even for a second. Eventually, his gaze found the red-head, "People don't like me." He managed to sound out.

"Why not?" She pressed. The rest of the team watched their interactions.

Steve shrugged but Bruce scolded him for moving while he was sewing. He didn't want to ruin the neat line of stitches he had on the ex-hero's torso.

"I stop bad men." He closed his eyes, head resting back against the pillow.

"You still fight crime?" Clint jumped in now, needing to feed his own curiosity.

Steve nodded, a lock of hair fell over his forehead and he moved it with a huff of breath, "They know it me. They kill me."

"They won't be able to kill you, Steve. I won't- We won't let them." Tony was sat on the floor close to Steve's head. He continued his gentle, reassuring touches as the doctor kept working.


	10. Chapter 10

It was nearly a struggle to carry Steve up to the penthouse suite but Thor was more than equipped to handle the soldier's dead weight. All the way up, Tony was paranoid Thor would march through a doorway and smack Steve's lolling head into a doorframe. A couple of times the team questioned why Steve was going to Tony's bedroom instead of being given one of his own but the genius just shook them off muttering about how it would be more comforting for the unconscious man to awake in a place he recognized. Nobody had the nerve to ask why Steve would be so familiar with Stark's bedroom.

They placed the heavy man on the soft bed and Tony pulled a blanket over his form. He carded his fingers through the man's blond hair and smiles softly. Even when he wasn't causing trouble with the Avengers, Steve had been out stopping crime on the streets of America. It just proved more evidence that his heart was actually made of solid good.

By the time Stark and Thor had made it back to where the others were, they were clearly bursting with questions as their observering eyes had picked up every movement between Tony and Steve.

"Why didn't you tell us?!" Romanoff was the first to snap, stepping toward the billionaire whilst looking wholly unimpressed.

"Tell you..." The genius hesitated.

"You and Captain Rogers, dating." She states.

"What?! No, we're not dating."

She smirked, "You say as though you don't want to be." There was a knowing tone in her voice. She'd really been working with Stark for one year too many, "You've always been having him around the tower claiming he was 'helping you'."

"Don't deny it!" Barton added, "We saw the way your eyes were glued to his body."

The billionaire frowned and took a defensive stance, "I'm not dating Steve Rogers."

"It would make sense, though." Bruce piped up and Stark shot him a look. Even his closer friends were turning against him! "You've been spending loads of time with him... You called him up to help last time..."

"But that doesn't mean anything!" He snapped, "We're not dating!" He growled out.

Did he want to date Steve? Probably but their volatile personalities would undoubtedly cause so many issues. However, did he want to sleep with Steve? Feel the man's muscle moving underneath him? Hell, yes. He wouldn't deny that.

The team were quiet due to the genius' outburst but they clearly had many more thoughts on the matter. Bruce scratched the back of his neck, his gaze only on the floor. The others didn't look quite so awkward.

Tony sighed and pushed passed them back to the table. He dumped himself down in his seat and forced himself to just continue eating. Eventually the other Avengers joined him without a word.

* * *

The room was dark when he woke up but it didn't sooth the pounding in his head. He turned to burry his face in the pillow and was about to groan when he froze; his bed did not smell like expensive cologne and metal. His eyes suddenly sharpened to desperately discover where he was and why he was in some strange bed.

The room was large and minimalist. It only took the soldier a few seconds to recognize it. Tony Stark's bedroom. What was he doing in Stark's bed? Why couldn't he remember what had led him to be here or what had happened the night before?

Steve's pushed himself up to rest against the headboard and a wound on his side throbs. He fingers the neat stitches lightly with a frown. It was already beginning to heal thanks to the serum. It hurts like hell but he had no idea how he got it however he does know that he wants to get out before Stark turns up and gloats in Steve's face about how he managed to get himself stabbed and still ended up in the man's large bed.

He rips the blanket off, slips on one of Tony's larger, yet still too tight, tanks, and quickly makes for the door, his footsteps softer than a cat burglar's. Stark's penthouse is silent like must of the city at this time in the morning and Steve can't help but wonder where the man is; did he not need sleep?

He gets in the elevator and immediately punches the button for the ground floor. He can feel the relief seeping through his veins until the elevator suddenly stops, several floors from the bottom. Steve tries to keep him breathing neutral as the doors open.

A small man enters and stands beside him. From the files he hacked and the news he watched he knew it was Clint Barton, the SHIELD agent with some sort of fetish for the Lord of the Rings character, Legolas. Why else would he use a bow and arrow? The man didn't speak until the doors slid shut.

"Leaving already?" The man asked, barely moving his head to look at Steve.

"Uh... Yeah, got things to do. Busy day." He lied. He had squat to do but just needed to get out before he bumped into Stark. He had no idea what happened last night and wasn't about to learn from some mocking asshole. He'd hack the video footage later.

"What do you do now, Rogers?"

"Art. I'm an artist." He supplied, knowing the truth was probably a safer option since Barton was clearly going to start pushing questions.

"You can make a living off that?" He leant his head, genuinely curious.

"It was hard at first but I had my back pay to keep me afloat. Now I make enough to get by." He didn't know what the Agent was looking for in his answers.

"So, what about Stark?" Upon noticing the Captain's blank face, the Archer elaborated, "Does he know?"

"About my art? Not really... Whenever we're together he tends to talk a lot about himself."

"So you're not dating or anything?" Clint didn't care how personal it was.

There was a silence for a few seconds as the elevator opened and Steve stepped out, "No, we're not dating... Or sleeping together." He adds just to put any wild theories in Clint's mind to rest. He didn't want to gain a reputation as a guy who just turned up at the tower every now and then to sleep with Stark.

He noticed the Avenger was still standing in the elevator. Steve asked him, "Are you not getting out?"

The small man chuckled slightly, "Nah, I just wanted to introduce myself."

"And yet you still haven't mentioned your name."

Barton gave him a mild look that said 'You already know who I am just like I know who you are'. Instead of saying it though he merely held out his hand with a smirk, "I'm Clint Barton. Hawkeye."

Steve shook his hand firmly, "Steve, Steve Rogers. Great to meet you."

"And you... Nice tank." He tried to hide the giggles as his eyes shot down to the grey tank top that was almost bursting. Steve was clearly several times larger than the engineer it belonged to.

Steve blushes profusely,"It's-It's all I could find."

The archer shook his head and clicked the button to take him back up, "I like you. You're a good guy."

The doors slid shut but Steve remained staring at the elevator for a while before he began to long walk home. Sam was going to be pissed.

* * *

Sam was pissed.

"No call?! Not even a text?! You could have been dead, Steve!" The soldier had barely even stepped through the door when Sam's fury hit him like a train. The ex-soldier was clearly exhausted having spent most of the night waiting around for his friend. His arms curled across his torso.

"I was stabbed."

"I don't care if- Wait, what?!" He was about to blow off Steve feeble excuse when it registered with him that being stabbed was a genuine excuse. "You were stabbed?! Where?"

"In some alley." He shrugged.

"No, I meant where on your body, Steve." He deadpanned.

The soldier lifted the side of the tank top to reveal the line of stitches. Sam rushed forward to get a closer look.

"How did it happen?" The words rushed from his mouth.

"I don't really remember."

"How can you not remember being stabbed?"

The super soldier shrugged and moved further into their small apartment to collapse down onto the couch. He rested his head back and closed his eyes. He wasn't feeling the best right now. His head was still pounding but not quite at the same level as when he'd woken up.

"Wait... You didn't go out in that t-shirt." He eyed the clothes suspiciously. Steve would never even consider purchasing a tank top, especially one so tight, let alone actually wear it out.

"It's Stark's." Steve supplied, shrugging.

"Why are you wearing Tony Stark's clothes?" He asked, wondering if he really wanted to know the answer. He knew Steve likes the guy, he keeps randomly going to the guy's house for pete's sake but he really didn't need to know if they'd slept together. Tony Stark was exactly the last guy he'd pick for his best friend but it wasn't his choice at the end of the day.

"I woke up in his house... But I can't remember anything that happened after I left here yesterday."

Sam dropped his head into his hands and sighed a long world-weary sigh, "And that's totally normal."


	11. Chapter 11

It's been a long time since he'd been out causing trouble- over two months- but now his compulsion to get out there and create challenges was becoming difficult to ignore. If he was being honest, he didn't really want to do it. He'd grown to like Tony, and perhaps even some of the team, too much to place him in danger. However, it almost felt like he didn't have a choice with the way his mind was churning every second, begging for occupation.

He was tired of living this life. A life where his own thoughts were like Rapids and he was constantly being pulled under. He needed a way to capture his mind and channel the energy into something useful that actually helped rather than destroyed. His art was only just managing to hold out as a distraction for him but he knew that pretty soon even that wouldn't help.

It had to be hard this time. Why? He wasn't exactly sure but the idea of going out with a bang came to mind. He wanted to stop and perhaps after this time he would make more of an active hand in trying to stop himself. Maybe he could get a full-time job working with computers? Maybe Stark would employ him? He doubted it.

He was targeting SHIELD this time. Why? He didn't know but what he did know was it was bigger with more experts and more man-power so posed so much more of a challenge. The instant he'd decided he was going to act his mind began reeling to find a plan. He was obviously going to do it from a distance and using signals because, quite frankly, he couldn't afford giant robots with laser eyes or whatever. He didn't have magic or anything from outer space so had to make do with what was cheap, available and he had some understanding with.

He purposely avoided Stark as the man was sure to figure out he was up to something.

Sam violently disapproved. The ex-soldier refused to talk to Steve for almost 3 days in protest before the super soldier managed to convince his friend to drive him out to SHIELD so he could scope out their wireless security. The smaller man did it but did so very begrudgingly. He didn't want Steve to do it but he wanted Steve to get into trouble while doing it even less.

It was nothing major on Steve's side but the whole plan was just to make the SHIELD lot lose it in absolute panic. Steve would maintain all the systems in place, he didn't want to invite an accidental invasion or anything, but just block SHIELDs access to it! So to them it would appear as though their entire system had crashed into the ground. Everything would actually be fine though, Steve couldn't stress that point enough.

It all started on a Sunday morning and little did Steve know that this day was about to go the complete opposite of how he had planned.

At first it was hard to figure out if his plan had even worked as SHIELD breaking down was exactly something they openly publicised to the news and such. It took careful inspection of the systems to notice that there were many people desperately attempting to access the data. Once or twice a request came through from outside the base requesting back up or advice during a mission. Not being a cold hearted bastard, Steve allowed those requests through to only a couple of high ups for them to be dealt with. He wasn't willing to have blood on his hands.

Unlike most of his challenges, Steve stayed around to watch. He was a few hundred meters away where he was sat on a roof so he had a clear view of the base. There was a few more people rushing about but aside from that, they hid their panic well. He hoped his mostly black ensemble didn't draw too much attention but at the same time be couldn't go around without a mask or SHIELD itself would probably spot him.

After 20 minutes Roger's cell began buzzing on his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced down at the number before leaving it on the roof edge beside him.

Tony Stark

The billionaire wasn't stupid. He either already knew Steve was behind it or knew that they needed to call Steve in to help they break back in to their system. The super soldier wasn't about to answer the phone, feel guilty and then reverse the whole process which had taken long and hard weeks of hacking.

He swung his feet where they were hanging from the ledge.

* * *

He didn't notice anyone on the roof behind him until they had their strong arms around his neck. They twisted, a move intended to pull Steve off the ledge and onto the ground of the roof. The super soldier went down as he was caught by surprise. He was prepared for the next move however so was able to roll out of the way of the person's knives.

He leapt up and faced his attacker with a gap of 3 meters separating them. The man's jaw dropped slightly as he noticed who it was.

"Natasha." He whispered, barely a breath.

"What?" She demanded, her hearing sharp.

"Black Widow." He supplied instead. He wasn't about to reveal that he knew insider knowledge on the whole Avengers crew. He'd read her file several times as he found her fascinating. Her upbringing and lifestyle was beyond anything he could believe.

She smirked, "I'm sure it's an honor." Her accent not quite natural.

The assassin leapt for him but his fast reactions allowed him to jump out the way just in time. Natasha swung a knife at him but he ducked away. His moves were purely defensive and she recognized that.

"Too scared to hit a girl?" Her lips curved into a grin, lipstick glinting in the sun.

"Nope, too scared to engage a master assassin in hand to hand combat." Steve replied honestly, moving back from her again.

She threw a throwing star and it whizzed through the air too fast for even Steve to react. The blade ripped through the skin on his abdomen, only a few inches from where his stitches had previously been. The black star stuck halfway in his flesh and half out. He tugged it out, wincing at the pain, and threw it away. In his distraction she leapt forward and grabbed him around the throat. The Black Widow pushed him back toward the edge until he was leaning back over the significant drop which would definitely cause his death.

His blue eyes noticed the archer, Clint, on the roof a couple of buildings over with his bow drawn tight and aimed at Steve's head. He recalled the conversation they'd had in the elevator a few months ago that made the super soldier like that man a little more.

"What were you doing?" Natasha's voice was fast and demanding. It made Steve want to wince.

"Nothing." He answered automatically.

She jolted him backwards which made his arms swing out to grab the edge and support himself. His heart beat began to race. Dangling on the edge of life or death was certainly a thrill although Sam would definitely be pissed if he got killed.

There was the sound of thrusters and heavy metal landing against the roof. That sound was like music to Steve's ears. Perhaps Stark was here to be his saviour. The suit walked over to where Natasha had Steve by the throat and was leaning him off the rooftop. A strong gust of wind and the man would be a goner.

Tony retracted his face plate and took s good look at the position Steve was in. He tutted and sighed like a parent who'd just been called into school again due to their child. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and acted as though Steve really was causing him a headache.

"Please, no." Tony mock begged with absolutely no conviction in his voice, "Please spare him. God, my heart, my weak heart. Let him go."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. Her eyes slid back down to the large, masked man under her capable hands. He certainly wasn't fighting back.

The suited man muttered to Rogers, "I thought you'd kicked this habit." Before turning to Black Widow and throwing a mechanical hand to his forehead, "Must he die? Spare him."

Clint buzzed over the comms, "What the fuck is happening over there? I can just see Stark acting like an absolute sissy... As per usual."

Tony snapped back, "I'm trying to get Natasha to spare him."

Steve butted in from where he is back was beginning to ache from being bent over the edge, "Look, kill me if you want but can we do it soon? I'd rather not have to listen to your bickering."

Natasha glanced at Tony first before releasing her grip and stepping back. Rogers slowly straighten up to ensure he didn't pose a threat, eyes always glued to the assassin.

Stark stepped forward and pulled the half balaclava off the man's head. His blond hair stuck up in puffs but it was definitely the Captain America they'd come to recognize. Natasha's face folded into a deep frown. She might not have fully trusted him but never believed this guy was capable of anything like hacking SHIELD.

"Steve, I thought we'd gotten you away from this." The billionaire gestured around desperately.

The soldier peered down at his feet. At least he was ashamed of what he's done.

"Are you- Are you bleeding?!" Tony cried. The crimson blood had soaked out of the wound and into the dark fabric making it shine in the light. Steve internally cursed the throwing star for ruining a perfectly good sweater.

There was a beat of silence, "Yes."

"Why are you bleeding?"

"I stabbed myself." He answered without completely thinking through his words. Natasha's eyes shot to his face and studied him.

"You stabbed yourself." Tony said as though he really didn't believe it, "Why?"

"Because I was bored?" Steve cringed on the inside. This was possibly the worst lie he had ever told and he'd told some bad ones before.

"You were bored while you were hacking into a top secret base that most people don't even know the address of if they wanted to send a letter?" He scoffed, that would be a push even for a genius, "You're a terrible liar. I can read it all over your face."

Rogers shook his head defiantly, "Nope, my face always looks like this."

Natasha's lips curled into the subtlest smiles and it was clear she was grateful from the look in her big eyes. It wasn't that she couldn't take Stark. It was just that he'd be a pain in the ass if he found out that it was her that had caused this wound upon Steven's body.

The peered at the soldier. Perhaps he was growing on her.


	12. Chapter 12

Steve thought the cell was slightly unnecessary but he wasn't about to kick up a fuss while he was trying to prove they could trust him. The bed was rock hard and he perched on it with his knees up by his chin. He hoped he would get in trouble for getting his sneakers on the paper thin mattress. They weren't that dirty anyway... Right?

He didn't even have a window. Just a toilet, bed and sink. Oh and how could he forget the cup of water that stood just inside the doorway. The blond man scanned the area and couldn't help but be kind of disappointed. He'd had grand expectations of what it'd be like to be held prisoner by SHIELD and to be honest, it was lacking all the top secret institution vibes he wanted.

The light above him hurt his eyes as the light was so harsh against the dull colours of the room. It feel like a room that intended to turn you insane. Blue eyes were staring up at the light when the door clicked open and Stark walked in followed by Director Fury.

He kept his face neutral.

"Captain Rogers." Fury addressed. A familiar laptop was held in the directors hands and Steve's eyes were glued to the device immediately. He held out the laptop but had to place it on the edge of the bed when the Captain refused to even move a muscle. "Stark tells me you'll be needing this. Don't disappoint." He turned and left the room but was undoubtedly watching through cameras.

Stark was clearly fighting the smirk that was pushing its way onto his lips, "We can't decode your challenge. You need to do it."

"Well, of course you can't. It's only been a few hours. It'd even take me longer than that if I was unfamiliar with the program."

"But you are familiar with it..." It has difficult to gage Tony's emotions. He was trying to maintain a professional outwardly appearance due to the SHIELD staff watching him but was also excited at the prospect that Steve had once again set an in breakable challenge.

The blond glanced across at his trusty laptop, "Two hours."

"I didn't want them too, you know?" Tony answered cryptically.

Steve leant his head like a confused puppy and frowned, "To what?"

"Give in." Iron man provided casually, "I wanted them to call in professionals from across the globe to try and break your program but they said it'd take too long. I tried to explain how it'd probably stop you setting more challenges but they didn't seem to care. Their priority right now is their stupid files."

Which, of course, you have a copy of every single one that you're storing yourself, Steve thought with a smirk. Tony seemed to understand what he was thinking as he gave a minor smirk in reply. It was only known to a few that Iron Man was always on a mission to steal SHIELD data.

Steve didn't really want to admit it but he was actually secretly relieved that the billionaire wasn't pissed off that Steve didn't tell him about the plan or that he'd chosen to attack SHIELD. He'd accidentally grown to actually like the older man over the time they'd been talking. He'd thought he was hot from day one but getting to know his personality and humor made Steve like him that little bit more. He'd been lucky to get in a few kisses before now and desperately hoped they would continue to develop.

The ex-soldier pulled up the laptop onto his now folded legs and began to type away. Tony was strolling through the door when the soldier smirked and said, "You might want to text my roommate and ask him to pick me up at 6:30."

That gave him just over 2 hours. He doubted stark would actually call the man but Steve did chuckle.

He worked away at his laptop for hours until his web of code had been unwound and was clear. Did he leave a bug there which would allow him to enter their systems at will? Yes but, quite frankly, that didn't need to be discussed. He was a hacker and he knew to leave himself help if he ever needed access again.

* * *

The Director looked less than impressed as he watched Steve leave from his window high up in the building. The mastermind could feel the eyes on him so threw a wave over his shoulder almost condescendingly. He was buzzed right now.

When he arrived back at the small apartment the energy was still thrumming through his veins. He rambled on to Sam about what had happened and how he'd gotten arrested by SHIELD. The ex-soldier just nodded every now and again to offer encouragement but it was clear he wouldn't have received the same thrill from such an evening.

Sam was heading out and Steve couldn't help but be mildly offended that the man wasn't planning on sitting around and listen to him recount his time. However, Sam had to work and that was well known. He had to promote Steve's art and arrange exhibitions and other important things. Just because Steve's world had begun to revolve around the Avengers doesn't mean Sam's did too.

The door clicked shut leaving the mastermind alone again. His sharp eyes scanned around the room until it landed on one of his more recent works. A large water color painting of a small cafe on the corner of a quiet street. The bright yellow of the signage contrasting the gray of the cement surrounding it.

Sam had asked about selling it but for some reason, Steve couldn't bare the thought of parting with it. Since the day it had been painted, 3 years ago, it had sat in pride of place in their living room.

* * *

Two months later.

"Steve, we need you in." Tony spoke as soon as the hacker had lifted the cell to his ear.

"In where?"

"Don't act naive." The genius scoffed, "SHIELD. We need you."

"Again?" Steve asked pleasantly. Purposely hiding his giggles so the other man didn't realise how hilarious the ex-soldier was finding SHIELD's desperation. "Wasn't I down there yesterday? And Monday? And twice last week."

The genius sighed, "Look, I don't know what it is but the Cyclops asked me to call you in. Apparently he thinks I have a way with you or something." The billionaire was clearly distracted and the sound of metal being hit reverberated through the line.

"Well, you do have a way with me."

"I heard Natasha turned up on the fire escape outside your window last week before I got you." He changed the subject, clearly remembering something else. "And Clint said you pulled the blind down on her." There was chuckling.

"There might have been some blind pulling. She was disrupting me." Steve chuckled too, smiling down at his feet, " I was working."

"Working? What do you do?" Curiosity blossomed in his tone. He'd spoken a lot to Steve but he'd purposely never pried into her personal life outside of the hacking and challenges.

"Um, maybe I could show you?" He was unsure even as he said the words, "I'll send you the address and time, okay?" Steve said without giving away what it is.

"Will you be there?" Stark asked, sensing the call was coming to an end.

"I will come as soon as I'm done with Fury." The hacker promised but butterflies were turning over in his stomach.


	13. Chapter 13

This had not been anything like he'd expected. It was a good thing Steve had specified black tie otherwise he'd have turned up to this fancy art exhibition in oiling jeans and a tank. He sipped from the champagne glass someone had slipped into his grasp as he'd walked through the door, dazzled and overwhelmed.

He'd kind of been imagining Steve to work in some independent IT place where his talent was vastly under appreciated but instead he was staring into the greys and browns of a war zone. The painting was one of the smaller on display but Stark had been peering into each stroke for the last 10 minutes. Such a grim depiction of war and probably a very true one. He knew Captain America had lived through war, after all.

He tried to make it look like he didn't jump when the voice sprang upon him but the slight slosh of his champagne betrayed him. He glanced across at the black man who had definitely spoke but was now also gazing at the art.

"You have good taste, Mr Stark." The man smiled at him, "This is one of my favorites he's done."

"And he is..."

"Steve Carter but you probably know him better as Steve Rogers." He gave a sly grin. "He's spoken a lot about you."

"You know Steve?" Tony asked, slightly regretting that he had never investigated into the hackers background. He'd lied to himself and said it was only because he valued Steve's privacy but in reality he liked the element of mystery it brought to their relationship. He needed excitement in his life like a drug so being able to fantasize about Steve's real life kept him interested.

"Sam Wilson." He held out his hand to shake, "I'm his agent and we share an apartment." He smiled again.

There was a few seconds of silence as Stark stared at the agent before turning back to the painting and saying, "How does $50,000 sound to you?"

Sam's eyes widened slightly and he swallowed, "You realise that is so much over the asking price, right?"

The billionaire nodded, "I think it's worth more than what you labelled it so I ignored that."

"Thank you. I'll get one of the staff to bring it down to be parcelled up immediately." Sam waves over one of the staff and began to speak with them in hushed tones.

Tony began to wander the large hall some more. A few of the pieces were more cliché like views of the city but others held an almost enchanting uniqueness and even Tony, as someone who could never really get art, could truly appreciate them. Someone a little distance away near the front door said the name of the artist so Stark span around.

Steve had just stepped into the building looking a little flushed but the tuxedo was perfect figured and made him look absolutely divine. An elderly woman had grabbed his attention by asking about new work. The artist answered her politely but concisely so he could continue scanning the room for Tony.

He walked over to the billionaire and began to peer at a piece in an obviously sarcastic way. He didn't hold quite the same passion as his customers. He knew he could paint and draw well enough but the soldier often came across undiscovered artists that he thought deserved the recognition more than him.

"So... you're an artist?" Tony breached the question.

"Have I disappointed you?" He wasn't resting his happiness on the other man's reaction but it was always interesting to gage other people's opinions. Tony, as a man of science, was more likely to under appreciated the art form. The ex-soldier pouted in an attempt to hide the smile that was trying to work its way onto his lips.

"The opposite actually." The billionaire grinned before allowing his eyes to scan around the room at the exhibition. The room was full to maximum with people still coming in as well, "I never expected this but it's honestly beautiful." It wasn't often Stark let his joker facade fall away but with Steve he wanted to and, even though he had never shown any interest in art, he could appreciate it.

"I'm glad. Really, I am." The taller male smiled and blushed.

A thought suddenly snapped to the forefront of Tony's mind, "What did Fury want?"

They walked together at a languid pace toward a quieter corner of the large showroom. As they moved side by side their hands brushed discretely. It was when they were away from the main noise of room that they stopped and Steve spoke.

Uncertainly, he began, "I went into SHIELD and spoke to Director Fury. He was speaking a bit about my past as Captain America and my recent crimes since I'd handed back the shield. He suggested that perhaps working with SHIELD would decrease the likelihood that I'd actually take to hacking as they'd keep me occupied instead." Tony's face was lighting up as the American icon spoke.

"What did you say?!" He grasped the other man's hands.

"I said I'd think about it... I didn't want... I didn't want you to feel like I was getting in your way."

"In my way?!" The dark haired man burst out, "Are you joking? You'd make my tedious visits to SHIELD a Hell of a lot better!"

"Really?" Steve blushed and gazed down at his feet.

"Really." Tony said quickly before reaching up and pulling Steve down for a searing kiss. The soldier reacted instantly, placing one hand against Tony's chest and the other on his cheek.

It had been a while since they actually kissed but it instantly reminded the other of the chemistry they shared. They broke away for air, both grinning. They gazed into each other's eyes until Sam walked passed and made a jokey comment about how people were supposed to be looking at the art and not them.

* * *

The next day Steve accepted the role at SHIELD despite still holding a grudge against the organisation from the day he was unfrozen. He got settled in easily even though many of his colleagues didn't come and speak with him at first. It took them all a while to get enough courage to do so; he'd become a big name within the group of techies here apparently.

Steve got to work quickly and efficiently so was soon busting anything SHIELD was throwing his way. Tony came down and visited him every few days or whenever he was called in with Avengers duty. Steve allowed himself to get distracted for the length of time his crush visited but was straight back to work after the man had left.

* * *

The day, over a month later, had started as usual. Steve had opened his laptop and working his way through some files Fury had personally sent his way when the radio that played in the corner caught his attention. Everyone in the department stuck their heads out of their laptops, tablets and computers to listen to the announcement.

"The group, known as the Avengers, have been called to arms once again to combat a giant spaceship hovering over the city. It appears to be dropping creatures of some kind onto the streets! Citizens have been warned to remain indoors and lock all doors or windows."

Steve shared a look with the woman who worked on the desk just over from him and they both looked more than apprehensive about it. Working within SHIELD made every attack feel more dangerous and costly. They saw what was lost after every battle.

The voice of the Director crackled over the speakers, "Steve Rogers to my office."

Rogers steeled himself in preparation for whatever was about to be thrown his way and headed up.

* * *

"You want me to do what?" He gaped at the eye-patched man in horror. There was silence as his blue eyes bore into the other person.

Agent Hill answered him instead, "Your country needs you, Captain."

"You can't be serious. I haven't put on the suit in over 70 years. Who's to say I'd even still be suitable?!"

"We've watched you parkouring over the rooftops of this city." Fury crossed his arms and raised sceptical eyebrows, "So you try and tell me that you're unfit for service."

Steve huffed a sigh and rubbed at his forehead. This wasn't a good idea.

* * *

 _Shit_ , Tony thought as he dodged yet another falling creature from the mothership. They were falling fast as though it was actually raining a torrential downpour. He'd been landed on once already and nearly knocked out the sky a further two times. He saw one falling a head of him so sped up to smash right into it.

Down below he could see the things leaping for Natasha and her swinging her leg around to knock its head off completely. She seemed to be holding her own so far despite the increasing numbers. Clint was God knows where doing God knows what with his bow but hopefully making a dent in the numbers. He could actually hear The Hulk smashing creatures and walls indiscriminately somewhere in the general vicinity. Every few minutes he could hear Thor cry out a laugh or statement, enjoying the battle more than anyone else. Warrior genes were bred into him.

He zoomed over the streets when deep blue and red caught his eye. He turned his thrusters to again a better look.

Captain America was striding towards the thick of the action, shield securely strapped to his back. Despite years out of service, he looked instantly comfortable in the war zone almost as though it was his second home. A single creature ran out from where it'd been hiding in the shadows but Cap pulled his Shield from his back and swung it out to strike the beast. It flew back, killed on impact.

Tony lowered down and grinned at the man even though he couldn't show the emotion through the suit, "Need a lift, Captain? Might get you there a little quicker."

Recognization made the corners of Steve's lips curl up slightly and reach out for Iron Man to wrap his arms around his torso, "Much appreciated."

Tony took off and flew them the couple of minutes to get right into the centre of the ruckus. Black Widow glanced at them and was surprised to see Captain America but skilfully hid the emotion as she flipped and kicked a beast in the face.

"Captain." She greeted easily.

"We need a plan of attack." Steve spoke immediately, after ensuring he could be heard over the comms, "Thor and Iron Man, make your way up to the aircraft and see what you can do. Hulk, go with them and Smash." The three Avengers headed off immediately toward the spaceship. "Black Widow, Hawkeye and I will try and get most of these out of the way. Clint, head to the main road out of here and make sure nothing gets passed you." He instructed, "Okay, team. Go."

They raced off to kick some alien butt. Natasha instantly pulling out her daggers to decapitate what she could as she made her way over to where a large group of creatures were establishing themselves. Steve pulled out his Shield and threw it like a frisbee with all intentions of doing as much damage as possible.

"Careful, down below," Tony warned, "Falling parts are likely and I don't want that pretty face damaged." Over the communication system they could here Hulk giving it all he got to break it apart.

"Please keep flirting off the open comms." Clint begged, making fake puking noises.

Steve just chuckled as he continued doing what he did best: Defending his country.

* * *

Several hours later, the Avengers, plus Steve, stood gazing at the wreckage that lay in front of them. It had taken down part of a skyscraper on the way down but nobody got injured and it had finally stopped spawning those monsters. Tony flipped up his helmet and sighed.

"I sure as hell hope I'm not on clear up duty."

The whole group rolled their eyes, aside from Thor who was much too busy being proud that they'd vanquished their enemy. Steve couldn't help the way the small smile was pulled onto his lips as pride rushed through him too.

Soon enough a SHIELD truck pulled up and Agent Hill leant her head out of the window, "Avengers get in."

They all moved to climb into the vehicle until Natasha turned to notice Cap hadn't moved and was watching them with almost longing on his face. She didn't hesitate before calling over her shoulder, "That means you too, Steve. Sorry, no point trying to distance yourself now. It's too late, you're one of us." She said it as though it was a bad thing. Like to be an Avenger would be a hardship and chore but deep down she was smiling.

"Come on, Steve." Tony added, gently. He held out his hand and gave a reassuring smile, "Looks like you'll finally be putting your talents to some use."

The soldier smiled and followed Stark onto the truck to be taken back to base. The feeling of family closed in around him as the team threw banter back and forth lightheartedly; still high on the adrenaline. He smiled.

With his Shield strapped to his back he thinks, _I know I'm going to like it here._


	14. Epilogue

Epilogue:

The feel of soft lips against his was what roused Steve from his sleep. He blinked his eyes open to see Tony gazing down at him with smile. Mischief, like always, sparkled in his dark eyes.

"You're finally awake. How did I know that true love's kiss would wake the Princess?" He grinned, chuckling.

Smiling, Steve turned and wrapped an arm around Stark's naked torso and buried his face into the crook of his neck, "Does that make me Sleeping Beauty?"

The billionaire pretended to think about it for a second, "Nope, it just makes you a girl."

Blue eyes rolled but their lids began to slip closed again. He let out a content sigh.

"Look, I know cuddling with me is honestly the best thing about your life right now but you need to get up. Your exhibition is in a few hours and you promised Sam you would actually help set up this time. Although, I don't get why you don't just pay someone to be his assistant or something." Tony shrugged, placing a kiss onto his boyfriend's golden hair.

"Because he's my friend so I like spending time with him. Plus, I can't afford another full time staff member." He refused to move from Tony's side.

"One, I know you have enough money, I've seen how much you're raking in per piece now and two, I'm pretty sure there are thousands of people out there that would work for Captain America for free." The billionaire reminded him.

Yes, over the last 6 months his work had begun to gain more and more attention. He was pretty sure he had to attribute some of his success to the famous Tony Stark turning up at every showing and drawing in the paparazzi but he was genuinely proud of what he was making these days.

He felt Tony's hand drift down to rest against his ass and he chuckled, "Don't touch what you can't afford." He laughed.

The genius scoffed and give the ass a pinch, "I'm a multi-billionaire."

"The statement still stands." Steve knew he was being cheeky but he had a good feeling about today so his spirits were high.

His life had changed for the better and every day just seemed to improve on the last. He now had Tony to keep him company, his art was successful and he could protect his country on a daily basis. He knew he couldn't keep it up without the help of his friends but that's what made them even more special. His heart fluttered like a bird inside his rib cage.

"I love you, Tony." He murmured.

"I love you too, Steve." He replied, touching their lips together for a passionate kiss.

Steve had been right, being an Evil Mastermind wasn't all fun and games but being good... That definitely had its perks.


End file.
